^ 


THE 


MOT    3   1928 


EPISTLE   TO   THE    HEBREWS. 


THOMAS    CHARLES    EDWARDS,    D.D., 

PRINCIPAL  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  COLLEGE  OF  WALES,  ABERYSTWYTH. 


NEW  YORK: 

A.    C.    ARMSTRONG    AND    SON, 

714    BROADWAY. 


PREFACE, 


T  N  this  volume  the  sole  aim  of  the  writer  has  been 
to  trace  the  unity  of  thought  in  one  of  the 
greatest  and  most  difficult  books  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment. He  has  endeavoured  to  picture  his  reader 
as  a  member  of  what  is  known  in  the  Sunday-schools 
of  Wales  as  ''the  teachers'  class,"  a  thoughtful 
Christian  layman,  who  has  no  Greek,  and  desires 
only  to  be  assisted  in  his  efforts  to  come  at  the  real 
bearing  and  force  of  words  and  to  understand  the 
connection  of  the  sacred  author's  ideas.  It  may  not 
be  unnecessary  to  add  that  this  design  by  no  means 
implies  less  labour  or  thought  on  the  part  of  the 
writer.  But  it  does  imply  that  the  labour  is  veiled. 
Criticism  is  rigidly  excluded. 

The  writer  has  purposely  refrained  from  discussing 
the  question  of  the  authorship  of  the  Epistle,  simply 


PREFACE, 


because  he  has  no  new  hght  to  throw  on  this  standing 
enigma  of  the  Church.  He  is  convinced  that  St.  Paul 
is  neither  the  actual  author  nor  the  originator  of  the 
treatise. 

In  case  theological  students  may  wish  to  consult 
the  volume  when  they  study  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews,  they  will  find  the  Greek  given  at  the  foot 
of  the  page,  to  serve  as  a  catch-word,  whenever  any 
point  of  criticism  or  of  interpretation  seems  to  the 
writer  to  deserve  their  attention. 

T.  C.  E. 


Aberystwyth,  April  i2tA,  1888, 


CONTENTS, 


CHAPTER  I. 

PAGE 

THE  REVELATION  IN  A  SON  -------3 


CHAPTER   n. 

THE  SON   AND  THE  ANGELS  -  -  -  -  -  •  .      21 

CHAPTER   HI. 

FUNDAMENTAL  ONENESS  OF  THE   DISPENSATIONS-  -  "51 

CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  GREAT   HIGH-PRIEST^j      __-----     69 

CHAPTER  V. 

THE   IMPOSSIBILITY  OF   RENEWAL-  -----     83 

CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  IMPOSSIBILITY   OF   FAILURE  ------      99 


viii  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

PAGE 

THE  ALLEGORY  OF   MELCHIZEDEK-  -  -  -  -  "   ^S 

CHAPTER   VIII. 
THE  (NEW  COVENANT      -  -  -  -  --  -  -133 

CHAPTER   IX. 

AN   ADVANCE  IN   THE  EXHORTATION       -  -  •  -  -   1 83 

CHAPTER  X. 
FAITH  AN  ASSURANCE  AND  A  PROOF   -  -  -  -  -   199 

CHAPTER  XI. 
THE  FAITH  OF  ABRAHAM      -  -  -  -  -  -  -213 

CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  FAITH  OF  MOSES  -  -  -  -  •  -  -  -  233 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

A   CLOUD  OF  WITNESSES        -  -  -  -  -  -  -259 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
CONFLICT        ----------  273 

CHAPTER  XV. 

MOUNT  ZION  ---------  293 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
SUNDRY   EXHORTATIONS  -  -  -  -  •  -  '315 

INDEX  ------ 331 


SUMMARY. 


I.  The  Revelation  in  a  Son  :  i.  1-3. 

1.  The  previous  revelation  was  in  portions;  this  in  a 
Son,  Who  is  the  Heir  and  the  Creator. 

2.  The  previous  revelation  was  in  divers  manners ;  this  in 
a  Son,  Who  is  (i)  the  effulgence  of  God's  glory;  (2)  the 
image  of  His  substance ;  (3)  the  Sustainer  ol  all  things ; 
(4)  the  eternal  Priest-King. 

II.  The  Son  and  the  Angels:  i.  4-ii.  18. 

1.  The  Revealer  of  God  Son  of  God  :  i.  4-ii.  4. 

2.  The  Son  the  Representative  of  man:  ii.  5-18.  (i)  He 
is  crowned  with  glory  as  Son,  that  His  propitiation  may 
prove  effectual,  and  His  humiliation  involves  a  propitiatory 
death.  (2)  His  glory  consists  in  being  Leader  of  His 
people,    and   His   humiliation    fitted    Him    for   leadership. 

(3)  His  glory    consists    in    power    to    consecrate   men   to 
God,  and  His  humiliation  endowed  Him  with  this  power. 

(4)  His  glory  consists  in  the  destruction  of  Satan,  and  Satan 
is  destroyed  through  the  Son's  humiliation. 

in.  Fundamental  Oneness  of  the  Dispensations:   iii.  i- 
iv.  13. 

1.  Moses  and  Christ  are  equally  God's  stewards. 

2.  The  threatenings  of  God  under  the  Old  Testament  are 
in  force  in  reference  to  apostasy  from  Christ. 

3.  The  promises  of  God  are  still  in  force. 


SUMMARY. 


IV.  The  Great  High-priest:  iv./4-v.  10. 

1.  His  sympathy. 

2.  His  authority. 

V.  (A  Digression  )     The  Impossibility  of  Renewal   in 
THE  Case  of  Scoffers:  v.  ii-vi.  8. 

Their  renewal  is  impossible  (i)  because  the  doctrine  of 
Christianity  is  practical,  and  (2)  because  God's  punishment 
of  cynicism  is  the  destruction  of  the  spiritual  faculty. 

VI.  (Continuation  of  the  Digression.)    The  Impossibility 
of  Failure:  vi.  9-20. 

VII.  The  Allegory  of  Melchizedek  :  vii.  1-28. 

1.  Melchizedek  foreshadows  the  kingship  of  Christ. 

2.  Melchizedek  foreshadows  the  personal  greatness  of 
Christ. 

3.  The  allegory  teaches  the  existence  of  a  priesthood 
other  than  that  of  Aaron,  viz.,  the  priesthood  founded  on  an 
oath. 

4.  The  allegory  sets  forth  the  eternal  duration  of  Christ's 
priesthood. 

VIII.  The  New  Covenant:  viii.  r.   — ,  X»  ^  ^ 

1.  A  new  covenant  promised  through  Jeremiah:  viii.  1-13. 
The  new  covenant  would  excel  (i)  in  respect  of  the  moral 
law ;  (2)  in  respect  of  knowledge  of  God ;  (3)  in  respect 
of  forgiveness  of  sins. 

2.  A  new  covenant  symbolized  in  the  tabernacle:  ix, 
I-14. 

3.  A  new  covenant  ratified  in  the  death  of  Christ :  ix.  15- 
X.  18. 

IX.  An  Advance  in  the  Exhortation:  x.  19-39. 

X.  Faith  an  Assurance  and  a  Proof:  xi.  1-3. 

XI.  The  Faith  of  Abraham:  xi.  8-19. 

1.  His  faith  compared  with  the  faith  of  Noah. 

2.  His  faith  compared  with  the  faith  of  Enoch. 

3.  His  faith  compared  with  the  faith  of  Abel, 


SUMMARY. 


XII.  The  Faith  of  Moses:  xi.  23-28. 

1.  Faith  groping  for  the  work  of  life 

2.  Faith  chooses  the  work  of  Hfe. 

3.  Faith  a  disciphne  for  the  work  of  life. 

4.  Faith  renders  the  man's  life  and  work  sacramental. 

XIII.  A  Cloud  of  Witnesses:  xi.  29-xii.  i. 

XIV.  Conflict:  xii.  2-17.  Faith  as  a  hope  of  the  future 
endures  the  present  conflict  against  men. 

1.  The  preparatory  training  for  the  conflict  consists  in 
putting  away  (i)  our  own  grossness ;  (2)  the  sin  that  besets 
us. 

2.  The  contest  is  successfully  maintained  if  we  look  unto 
Jesus  (i)  as  Leader  and  Perfecter  of  our  faith;  (2)  as  an 
example  of  faith. 

3.  The  contest  is  necessary  as  a  discipline  in  dealing 
with  (i)  the  weaker  brethren,  (2)  the  enemy  at  the  gate, 
and  (3)  the  secular  spirit. 

XV.  Mount  Zion  :  xii.  18-29.  The  revelation  on  Sinai 
preceded  the  sacrifices  of  the  taDernacle ;  the  revelation  on  Zioa 
follows  the  sacrifice  of  the  Cross.     Hence — 

1.  Sinai  revealed  the  terrible  side  of  God's  character,  Zion 
the  peaceful  tenderness  of  His  love. 

2.  The  revelation  on  Sinai  was  earthly ;  that  on  Zion  is 
spiritual. 

XVI.  Sundry  Exhortations:  xiii.  1-25. 


THE  REVELATION  IN  A  SON, 


•*God,  having  of  old  time  spoken  unto  the  fathers  in  the  prophets  by 
divers  portions  and  in  divers  manners,  hath  at  the  end  of  these  days 
spoken  unto  us  in  His  Son,  Whom  He  appointed  Heir  of  all  things, 
through  Whom  also  He  made  the  worlds  ;  Who  being  the  effulgence  of 
His  glory,  and  the  very  image  of  His  substance,  and  upholding  all  things 
by  the  word  of  His  power,  when  He  had  made  purification  of  sins,  sat 
down  on  the  right  hand  of  the  Majesty  on  high." — Heb.  i.  i — 3  (R.V.). 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  REVELATION  IN  A   SON. 

"  /^^  OD  hath  spoken."  The  eternal  silence  has 
^-"^  been  broken.  We  have  a  revelation.  That 
God  has  spoken  unto  men  is  the  ground  of  all  religion. 
Theologians  often  distinguish  between  natural  religion 
and  revealed.  We  may  fairly  question  if  all  worship 
is  not  based  on  some  revelation  of  God.  Prayer  is  the 
echo  in  man's  spirit  of  God's  own  voice.  Men  learn  to 
speak  to  the  Father  Who  is  in  heaven  as  children  come 
to  utter  words  :  by  hearing  their  parent  speak.  It  is  the 
deaf  who  are  also  dumb.  God  speaks  first,  and  prayer 
answers  as  well  as  asks.  Men  reveal  themselves  to  the 
God  Who  has  revealed  Himself  to  them. 

The  Apostle  is,  however,  silent  about  the  revelations 
of  God  in  nature  and  in  conscience.  He  passes  them 
by  because  we,  sinful  men,  have  lost  the  key  to  the 
language  of  creation  and  of  our  own  moral  nature. 
We  know  that  He  speaks  through  them,  but  we  do  not 
know  what  He  says.  If  we  were  holy,  it  would  be 
Otherwise.      All  nature   would   be   vocal    *'  like  some 


THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS, 


sweet  beguiling  melody."  But  to  us  the  universe  is  a 
hieroglyphic  which  we  cannot  decipher,  until  we  dis- 
cover in  another  revelation  the  key  that  will  make  all 
plain. 

More  strange  than  this  is  the  Apostle's  omission  to 
speak  of  the  Mosaic  dispensation  as  a  revelation  of 
God.  We  should  have  expected  the  verse  to  run  on 
this  wise :  ^'  God,  having  spoken  unto  the  fathers  in  the 
sacrifices  and  in  the  prophets,  institutions,  and  inspired 
words,"  etc.  But  the  author  says  nothing  about  rites, 
institutions,  dispensations,  and  laws.  The  reason 
apparently  is  that  he  wishes  to  compare  with  the 
revelation  in  Christ  the  highest,  purest,  and  fullest 
revelation  given  before  ;  and  the  most  complete  revela- 
tion vouchsafed  to  men,  before  the  Son  came  to  declare 
the  Father,  is  to  be  found,  not  in  sacrifices,  but  in  the 
words  of  promise,  not  in  the  institutions,  but  in  holy 
men,  who  were  sent,  time  after  time,  to  quicken  the 
institutions  into  new  life  or  to  preach  new  truths.  The 
prophets  were  seers  and  poets.  Nature's  highest  gift  is 
imagination,  whether  it  ^'  makes "  a  world  that  tran- 
scends nature  or  "  sees  "  what  in  nature  is  hidden  from 
the  eyes  of  ordinary  men.  This  faculty  of  the  true 
poet,  elevated,  purified,  taken  possession  of  by  God's 
Holy  Spirit,  became  the  best  instrument  of  revelation, 
until  the  word  of  prophecy  was  made  more  sure 
through  the  still  better  gift  of  the  Son. 


i.  1-3.]  THE  REVELATION  IN  A   SON.  5 

But  it  would  appear  from  the  Apostle's  language  that 
even  the  lamp  of  prophecy,  shining  in  a  dark  place, 
was  in  two  respects  defective.  "God  spake  in  the 
prophets  by  divers  portions  and  in  divers  manners." 
He  spake  in  divers  portions;  that  is,  the  revelation 
was  broken,  as  the  light  was  scattered  before  it  was 
gathered  into  one  source.  Again,  He  spake  in  divers 
manners.  Not  only  the  revelation  was  fragmentary, 
but  the  separate  portions  were  not  of  the  same  kind. 
The  two  defects  were  that  the  revelation  lacked  unity 
and  was  not  homogeneous. 

In  contrast  to  the  fragmentary  character  of  the 
revelation,  the  Apostle  speaks  of  the  Son,  in  the  second 
verse,  as  the  centre  of  unity.  He  is  the  Heir  and  the 
Creator  of  all  things.  With  the  heterogeneous  revela- 
tion in  the  prophets  he  contrasts,  in  the  third  verse, 
the  revelation  that  takes  its  foi*m  from  the  peculiar 
nature  of  Christ's  Sonship.  He  is  the  effulgence  of 
God's  glory,  the  very  image  of  His  substance ;  He  up- 
holds all  things  by  the  word  of  His  power ;  and,  having 
made  purification  of  sins,  He  took  His  seat  on  the  right 
hand  of  the  Majesty  on  high. 

Let  us  examine  a  little  more  closely  the  double  com- 
parison made  by  the  Apostle  between  the  revelation 
given  to  the  fathers  and  that  which  we  have  received. 

First  J  the  previous  revelation  was  in  portions.  The 
Old    Testament    has   no    centre,    from   which   all    its 


6  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS. 

wonderful  and  varied  lights  radiate,  till  we  find  its 
unity  in  the  New  Testament  and  read  Jesus  Christ  into 
it.  God  scattered  the  revelations  over  many  centuries, 
line  upon  line,  precept  after  precept,  here  a  little  and 
there  a  little.  He  spread  the  knowledge  of  Himself 
over  the  ages  of  a  nation's  history,  and  made  the  i 
development  of  one  people  the  medium  whereby  to 
communicate  truth.  This  of  itself,  if  nothing  more  had 
been  told  us,  is  a  magnificent  conception.  A  nation's 
early  struggles,  bitter  failures,  ultimate  triumph,  the 
appearance  within  it  of  warriors,  prophets,  poets,  saints, 
used  by  the  Spirit  of  God  to  reveal  the  invisible ! 
Sometimes  revelation  would  make  but  one  advance  in 
an  age.  We  might  almost  imagine  that  God's  truth 
from  the  lips  of  His  prophets  was  found  at  times  too 
overpowering.  It  was  crushing  frail  humanity.  The 
Revealer  must  withdraw  into  silence  behind  the  thick 
veil,  to  give  human  nature  time  to  breathe  and  recover 
self-possession.  The  occasional  message  of  prophecy 
resembles  the  suddenness  of  Elijah's  appearances  and 
departures^  and  forms  a  strange  contrast  to  the  cease- 
less stream  of  preaching  in  the  Christian  Church. 

Still  more  strikingly  does  it  contrast  with  the  New 
Testament,  the  greater  book,  yea  the  greatest  of  all 
books.  Only  two  classes  of  men  deny  its  supremacy. 
They  are  those  who  do  not  know  what  real  greatness 
is,  and  those  who  disparage  it  as  a  literature  that  they 


i.  1-3.]  THE  REVELATION  m  A   SON.  7 

may  be  the  better  able  to  seduce  foolish  and  shallow 
youths  to  reject  it  as  a  revelation.  But  honest  and 
profound  thinkers,  even  when  they  do  not  admit  that  it 
is  the  word  of  God,  acknowledge  it  to  be  the  greatest 
among  the  books  of  men. 

Yet  the  New  Testament  was  all  produced — if  we  are 
forbidden  to  say  *' given" — in  one  age,  not  fifteen 
centuries.  Neither  was  this  one  of  the  great  ages  of 
history,  when  genius  seems  to  be  almost  contagious. 
Even  Greece  had  at  this  time  no  original  thinkers. 
Its  two  centuries  of  intellectual  supremacy  had  passed 
away.  It  was  the  age  of  literary  imitations  and 
counterfeits.  Yet  it  is  in  this  age  that  the  book  which 
has  most  profoundly  influenced  the  thought  of  all  sub- 
sequent times  made  its  appearance.  How  shall  we 
account  for  the  fact  ?  The  explanation  is  not  that  its 
writers  were  great  men.  However  insignificant  the 
writers,  the  mysterious  greatness  of  the  book  pervades 
it  all,  and  their  lips  are  touched  as  with  a  live  coal  from 
the  altar.  Nothing  will  account  for  the  New  Testament 
but  the  other  fact  that  Jesus  of  Nazareth  had  appeared 
among  men,  and  that  He  was  so  great,  so  universal,  so 
human,  so  Divine,  that  He  contained  in  His  own  person 
all  the  truth  that  will  ever  be  discovered  in  the  book. 
Deny  the  incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God,  and  you  make 
the  New  Testament  an  insoluble  enigma.  Admit  that 
Jesus  is  the  Word,  and  that  the  Word  is  God,  and  the 


THE   EFISILE    7  0    THE  HEBREWS, 


book  becomes  nothing  more,  nothing  less,  than  the 
natural  and  befitting  outcome  of  what  He  said  and  did 
and  suffered.  The  mystery  of  the  book  is  lost  in  the 
greater  mystery  of  His  person. 

Here  the  second  verse  comes  in,  to  tell  us  of  this 
great  Person,  and  how  He  unites  in  Himself  the  whole 
of  God's  revelation.  He  is  appointed  Heir  of  all  things, 
and  through  Him  God  made  the  ages.  He  is  the 
Alpha  and  the  Omega,  the  first  and  the  last,  He  which 
is,  and  which  was,  and  which  is  to  come, — the  spring 
from  which  all  the  streams  of  time  have  risen  and  the 
sea  into  which  they  flow.  But  these  are  the  two  sides 
of  all  real  knowledge;  and  revelation  is  nothing  else 
than  knowledge  given  by  God.  All  the  infinite  variety 
of  questions  with  which  men  interrogate  nature  may  be 
reduced  to  two :  Whence  ?  and  whither  ?  As  to  the 
latter  question,  the  investigation  has  not  been  in  vain. 
We  do  know  that,  whatever  the  end  will  be,  the 
whole  universe  rises  from  lower  to  higher  forms.  If 
one  life  perishes,  it  reappears  in  a  higher  life.  It  is 
the  ultimate  purpose  of  all  which  still  remains 
unknown.  But  the  Apostles  declare  that  this  in- 
terrogation is  answered  in  Jesus  Christ.  Only  that 
they  speak,  not  of  '^ultimate  purpose,"  but  of  "the 
appointed  Heir."  He  is  more  than  the  goal  of  a 
development.  He  is  the  Son  of  the  living  God,  and 
therefore  the  Heir  of  all  the  works  and  purposes  of  His 


i.  1-3.]  THE  REVELATION  IN  A   SON,  9 

Father.  He  holds  His  position  by  right  of  sonship, 
and  has  it  confirmed  to  Him  as  the  reward  of  filial 
service. 

The  word  "Heir"  is  an  allusion  to  the  promise  made 
to  Abraham.  The  reference,  therefore,  is  not  to  the 
eternal  relation  between  the  Son  and  God,  not  to  any 
lordship  which  the  Son  acquires  apart  from  His 
assumption  of  humanity  and  atoning  death.  The  idea 
conveyed  by  the  word  "  Heir "  will  come  again  to  the 
surface,  more  than  once,  in  the  Epistle.  But  every- 
where the  reference  is  to  the  Son's  final  glory  as 
Redeemer.  At  the  same  time,  the  act  of  appointing 
Him  Heir  may  have  taken  place  before  the  world  was. 
We  must,  accordingly,  understand  the  revelation  here 
spoken  of  to  mean  more  especially  the  manifestation 
of  God  in  the  work  of  redemption.  Of  this  work  also 
Christ  is  the  ultimate  purpose.  He  is  the  Heir,  to 
Whom  the  promised  inheritance  originally  and  ulti- 
mately belongs.  It  is  this  that  befits  Him  to  become 
the  full  and  complete  Revealer  of  God.  He  is  the 
answer  to  the  question.  Whither  ?  in  reference  to  the 
entire  range  of  redemptive  thought  and  action. 

Again,  He,  too,  is  the  Creator.  Many  seek  to  dis- 
cover the  origin  of  all  things  by  analysis.  They  trace 
the  more  complex  to  the  less  complex,  the  compound 
to  its  elements,  and  the  higher  developments  of  life  to 
lower  types.     But  to  the  theologian  the  real  difficulty 


lo  THE  EPISTLE    TO   THE  HEBREWS. 

does  not  lie  here.  What  matter  whence,  if  we  are  still 
the  same  ?  We  know  what  we  are.  We  are  men. 
We  are  capable  of  thinking,  of  sinning,  of  hating  or 
loving  God.  The  problem  is  to  account  for  these  facts 
of  our  spirit.  What  is  the  evolution  of  holiness? 
Whence  came  prayer,  repentance,  and  faith  ?  But  even 
these  questions  Christianity  professes  to  answer.  It 
answers  them  by  solving  still  harder  problems  than 
these.  Do  we  ask  who  created  the  human  spirit  ? 
The  Gospel  tells  us  who  can  sanctify  man's  inmost 
being.  Do  we  seek  to  know  who  made  conscience  ? 
The  New  Testament  proclaims  One  Who  can  purify 
conscience  and  forgive  the  sin.  To  create  is  but  a 
small  matter  to  Him  Who  can  save.  Jesus  Christ  is 
that  Saviour.  He,  therefore,  is  that  Creator.  In  being 
these  things.  He  is  the  complete  and  final  revelation 
of  God. 

Second,  previous  revelations  were  given  in  divers 
manners.  God  used  many  different  means  to  reveal 
Himself,  as  if  He  found  them  one  after  another  inade- 
quate.  And  how  can  a  visible,  material  creation 
sufficiently  reveal  the  spiritual  ?  How  can  institutions 
and  systems  reveal  the  personal,  living  God  ?  How 
can  human  language  even  express  spiritual  ideas? 
Sometimes  the  means  adopted  appear  utterly  incon- 
gruous. Will  the  great  Spirit,  the  holy  and  good  God, 
speak  to  a  prophet  in  the  dreams  of  night  ?     Shall  we 


i.  1-3.]  THE  REVELATION  m  A   SON.  ii 

say  that  the   man  of  God  sees  real  visions  when  he 
dreams  an  unreal  dream  ?     Or  will  an  apparition  of  the 
day  more  befittingly  reveal  God?     Has  every  substance 
been  possessed  by  the  spirit  of  falsehood,  so  that  the 
Being  of  beings  can  only  reveal  His  presence  in  un- 
substantial phantoms  ?     Has  the  waking  life  of  intellect 
become  so   entirely   false    to    its    glorious    mission    of 
discovering  truth  that  the  God  of  truth  cannot  reveal 
Himself  to  man,  except  in  dreams  and  spectres  ?     Yet 
there  was  a  time  when  it  might  be  well  for  us  to  recall 
our  dreams,  and  wise  to  believe  in  spiritualism.     For  a 
dream   might   bring   a   real    message    from    God,   and 
ecstasy  might  be  the  birth-throes  of  a  new  revelation. 
Some  of  the  good  words  of  Scripture  were  at  first  a 
dream.     In   the  midst  of  the  confused  fancies  of  the 
brain,   when  reason  is  for  a   time   dethroned,  a  truth 
descends  from  heaven  upon  the  prophet's  spirit.     This 
has  been,  but  will  never  again  take  place.     The  oracles 
are  dumb,  and  we  shall  not  regret  them.     We  consult 
no  interpreter  of  dreams.     We  seek  not  the  seances  of 
necromancers.      Let  the   peaceful   spirits  of  the  dead 
rest  in   God  !     They  had  their  trials  and  sorrows  on 
earth.     Rest,   hallowed  souls  !     We  do   not   ask   you 
to  break  the  deep  silence   of  heaven.     For  God    has 
spoken  unto  us  in  a  Son,  Who  has  been  made  higher 
than  the  heavens,  and  is  as  great  as  God.     Even  the 
Son  need  not,  must  not,  come  to  earth  a  second  time 


THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS, 


to  reveal  the  Father  in  mighty  deeds  and  a  mightier 
self-sacrifice.  The  revelation  given  is  enough.  ^^  We 
will  not  say  in  our  hearts,  Who  shall  ascend  into 
heaven  ?  (that  is,  to  bring  Christ  down  :)  or,  Who  shall 
descend  into  the  abyss?  (that  is,  to  bring  Christ  up  from 
the  dead.)  The  word  is  nigh  us,  in  our  mouth,  and 
in  our  heart :  that  is,  the  word  of  faith,  which  we 
preach."  * 

The  final  form  of  God's  revelation  of  Himself  is, 
therefore,  perfectly  homogeneous.  The  third  verse 
explains  that  it  is  a  revelation,  not  only  in  a  Son,  but 
in  His  Sonship.  We  learn  what  kind  of  Sonship  is 
His,  and  how  its  glorious  attributes  qualify  Him  to  be 
the  perfect  Revealer  of  God.  Nevermore  will  a  message 
be  sent  to  men  except  in  Jesus  Christ.  God,  Who 
spake  unto  the  fathers  in  divers  manners,  speaks  to  us 
in  Him,  Whose  Sonship  constitutes  Him  the  effulgence  of 
God's  glory,  the  image  of  His  substance,  the  Upholder 
of  the  universe,  and,  lastly,  the  eternal  Redeemer  and 
King. 

I.  He  is  the  effulgence  of  God's  glory.  Many  ex- 
positors prefer  another  rendering  :  ''  the  reflection  of 
His  glory."  This  would  mean  that  God's  self-manifes- 
tation, shining  on  an  external  substance,  is  reflected,  as 
from  a  mirror,  and  that  this  reflection  is  the  Son  of 

*  Rom.  X.  6—8. 


i.  1-3.]  THE  REVELATION  IN  A  SON,  13 

God.  But  such  an  expression  does  not  convey  a 
consistent  idea.  For  the  Son  must  be  the  substance 
from  which  the  Hght  is  reflected.  What  truth  there  is 
in  this  rendering  is  more  correctly  expressed  in  the 
next  clause  :  "  the  image  of  His  substance."  It  is, 
therefore,  much  better  to  accept  the  rendering  adopted 
in  the  Revised  Version  :  "  the  effulgence  of  His  glory." 
God's  glory  is  the  self-manifestation  of  His  attributes, 
or,  in  other  words,  the  consciousness  which  God  has 
of  His  own  infinite  perfections.  This  implies  the 
triune  personality  of  God.  But  it  does  not  imply  a 
revelation  of  God  to  His  creatures.  The  Son  partici- 
pates in  that  consciousness  of  the  Divine  perfections. 
But  He  also  reveals  God  to  men,  not  merely  in  deeds 
and  in  words,  but  in  His  person.  He  is  the  revelation. 
To  declare  this  seems  to  be  the  Apostle's  purpose  in 
using  the  word  '^  effulgence."  It  expresses  "  the  essen- 
tially ministrative  character  of  the  person  of  the  Son."  * 
If  a  revelation  will  be  given  at  all,  His  Sonship  points 
Him  out  as  the  Interpreter  of  God's  nature  and  pur- 
poses, inasmuch  as  He  is  essentially,  because  He  is 
Son,  the  emanation  or  radiance  of  His  glory. 

2.  He  is  the  image  of  His  substance.  A  solar  ray 
reveals  the  light,  but  not  completely,  unless  indeed  it 
guides  the  eye  back  along  its  pencilled  line  to  the  orb 

*  Newman,  Arians,  p.  182  (ed.  1833). 


l^  THE  EPISTLE    TO    THE  HEBREWS. 

of  day.  If  the  Son  of  God  were  only  an  effulgence, 
Christ  could  still  say  that  He  Himself  is  the  way  to 
the  Father,  but  He  could  not  add,  "  He  that  hath 
seen  Me  hath  seen  the  Father."*  That  the  revelation 
may  be  complete,  the  Son  must  be,  in  one  sense,  dis- 
tinct from  God,  as  well  as  one  with  Him.  Apparently 
this  is  the  notion  conveyed  in  the  metaphor  of  the 
'^  image."  Both  truths  are  stated  together  in  the  words 
of  Christ :  "  As  the  Father  hath  life  in  Himself,  so 
hath  He  given  to  the  Son  to  have  life  in  Himself y\ 
If  the  Son  is  more  than  an  effulgence,  if  He  is  "  the 
very  image"  of  God's  essence,  nothing  in  God  will 
remain  unrevealed.  Every  feature  of  His  moral  nature 
will  be  delineated  in  the  Son.  If  the  Son  is  the  exact 
likeness  of  God  and  has  a  distinct  mode  of  subsisting 
He  is  capable  of  all  the  modifications  in  His  form  of 
subsisting  which  may  be  necessary,  in  order  to  make 
a  complete  revelation  of  God  intelligible  to  men.  It 
is  possible  for  Him  to  become  man  Himself.  He  is 
capable  of  obedience,  even  of  learning  obedience  by 
suffering,  and  of  acquiring  power  to  succour  by  being 
tempted.  He  can  taste  death.  We  might  add,  if  we 
were  studying  one  of  St.  Paul's  Epistles  (which  we  are 
not  at  present  doing),  that  this  distinction  from  God, 
involved   in  His  very  Sonship,  made  Him  capable  of 

*  John  xiv.  6,  9.  f  John  v.  26. 


i.  1-3.]  THE  REVELATION  IN  A   SON.  15 

emptying  Himself  of  the  Divine  form  of  subsisting 
and  taking  upon  Him  instead  of  it  the  form  of  a 
servant.  This  power  of  meeting  man's  actual  condition 
confers  upon  the  Son  the  prerogative  of  being  the 
complete  and  final  revelation  of  God. 

3.  He  upholds  all  things  by  the  word  of  His  power. 
This  must  be  closely  connected  with  the  previous  state- 
ment. If  the  Son  is  the  effulgence  of  God's  glory  and 
the  express  image  of  His  essence,  He  is  not  a  creature, 
but  is  the  Creator.  The  Son  is  so  from  God  that  He 
is  God.  He  so  emanates  from  Him  that  He  is  a 
perfect  and  complete  representation  of  His  being.  He 
is  not  in  such  a  manner  an  effulgence  as  to  be  only 
a  manifestation  of  God,  nor  in  such  a  manner  an 
image  as  to  be  a  creature  of  God.  But,  in  fellowship 
of  nature,  the  essence  of  God  is  communicated  to 
the  Son  in  the  distinctness  of  His  mode  of  subsist- 
ing. The  Apostle's  words  fully  justify — perhaps  they 
suggested — the  expressions  in  the  Nicene  and  still 
earlier  creeds,  ''  God  of  God,  Light  of  Light,  very  God 
of  v^ry  God."  If  this  is  His  relation  to  God,  it  deter- 
mines His  relation  to  the  universe,  and  the  relation  of 
the  universe  to  God.  Philo  had  described  the  Word  as 
an  effulgence,  and  spoken  also  of  Him  as  distinct  from 
God.  But  in  Philo  these  two  statements  are  inconsis- 
tent. For  the  former  means  that  the  Word  is  an  attri- 
bute of  God,  and  the  latter  means  that  He  is  a  creature. 


l6  THE  EPISTLE   TO    THE  HEBREWS. 

The  writer  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  says  that  the 
Word  is  not  an  attribute,  but  a  perfect  representation 
of  God's  essence.  He  says  also  that  He  is  not  a 
creature,  but  the  Sustainer  of  all  things.  These  state- 
ments are  consistent.  The  one,  in  fact,  implies  the 
other ;  and  both  together  express  the  same  conception 
which  we  find  in  St.  John's  Gospel :  "  In  the  beginning 
was  the  Word,  and  the  Word  was  with  God,  and  the 
Word  was  God.  All  things  were  made  by  Him ;  and 
without  Him  was  not  anything  made  that  hath  been 
made."*  It  is  also  the  teaching  of  St.  Paul :  "  In  Him 
were  all  things  created,  in  the  heavens  and  upon  the 
earth,  things  visible  and  things  invisible,  whether 
thrones,  or  dominions,  or  principalities,  or  powers :  all 
things  have  been  created  through  Him,  and  unto  Him ; 
and  in  Him  all  things  consist."  t 

But  the  Apostle  has  a  further  motive  in  referring  to 
the  Son  as  Upholder  of  all  things.  As  Creator  and 
Sustainer  He  reveals  God.  He  upholds  all  things  by 
the  word  of  His  power.  "  The  invisible  things  of  God 
are  perceived  through  the  things  which  are  made,  even 
His  everlasting  power  and  Divinity."  %  There  is  a  re- 
velation of  God  prior  even  to  that  given  in  the  prophets. 

4.  Having  made  purification  of  sins.  He  took  His 
seat  on  the  right  hand  of  the  Majesty  on  high.     We 

♦  John  i.  I,  3.  t  Col.  i.  16,  17.  J  Rom.  i.  20. 


1.1-3.]  THE  REVELATION  IN  A  SON.  17 

come  now,  at  last,  to  the  special  revelation  of  God 
which  forms  the  subject  of  the  Epistle.  The  Apostle 
here  states  his  central  truth  on  its  two  sides.  The 
one  side  is  Christ's  priestly  offering ;  the  other  is  His 
kingly  exaltation.  We  shall  see  as  we  proceed  that 
the  entire  structure  of  the  Epistle  rests  on  this  great 
conception, — the  Son  of  God,  the  eternal  Priest-King. 
By  introducing  it  at  this  early  stage,  the  author  gives 
his  readers  the  clue  to  what  will  very  soon  prove  a 
labyrinth.  We  must  hold  the  thread  firmly,  if  we 
wish  not  to  be  lost  in  the  maze.  The  subject  of  the 
treatise  is  here  given  us.  It  is  ^^  The  Son  as  Priest- 
King  the  Revealer  of  God."  The  revelation  is  not  in 
words  only,  nor  in  external  acts  only,  but  in  love,  in 
redemption,  in  opening  heaven  to  all  believers.  It  is 
well  termed  a  revelation.  For  the  Priest-King  has  rent 
the  thick  veil  and  opened  the  way  to  men  to  enter  into 
the  true  holiest  place,  so  that  they  know  God  by 
prayer  and  communion. 


THE  SON  AND   THE  ANGELS, 


Hebrews  i.  4 — ii.  18. 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE  SON  AND   THE  ANGELS. 

*'  I  ^HE  most  dangerous  and  persistent  error  against 
-*-  which  the  theologians  of  the  New  Testament 
had  to  contend  was  the  doctrine  of  emanations.  The 
persistence  of  this  error  lay  in  its  affinity  with  the 
Christian  conception  of  mediation  between  God  and 
men;  its  danger  sprang  from  its  complete  inconsis- 
tency with  the  Christian  idea  of  the  person  and  work 
of  the  Mediator.  For  the  Hebrew  conception  of  God, 
as  the  "  I  AM,"  tended  more  and  more  in  the  lapse 
of  ages  to  sever  Him  from  all  immediate  contact  with 
created  beings.  It  would  be  the  natural  boast  of  the 
Jews  that  Jehovah  dwelt  in  unapproachable  light. 
They  would  point  to  the  contrast  between  Him  and 
the  human  gods  of  the  Greeks.  An  ever-deepening 
consciousness  of  sin  and  spiritual  gloom  would 
strengthen  the  conviction  that  the  Lord  abode  behind 
the  veil,  and  their  conception  of  God  would  of  neces- 
sity react  on  their  consciousness  of  sin.  If,  therefore, 
God  is  the  absolute  Being — so  argued  the  Gnostics  of 


THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS. 


the  day — He  cannot  be  the  actual  Creator  of  the  world. 
We  must  suppose  the  existence  of  an  emanation  or 
a  series  of  emanations  from  God,  every  additional  link 
in  the  chain  being  less  Divine,  until  we  arrive  at  the 
material  universe,  where  the  element  of  Divinity  is 
entirely  lost.  These  emanations  are  the  angels,  the 
only  possible  mediators  between  God  and  men.  Some 
theories  came  to  a  stand  at  this  point ;  others  took 
a  further  step,  and  worshipped  the  angels,  as  the 
mediators  also  between  men  and  God.  Thus  the 
angels  were  regarded  as  messengers  or  apostles  from 
God  and  reconcilers  or  priests  for  men.  St.  Paul  has 
already  rejected  these  notions  in  his  Epistle  to  the 
Colossians.  He  teaches  that  the  Son  of  God's  love 
is  the  visible  image  of  the  invisible  God,  prior  to  all 
creation  and  by  right  of  primogeniture  Heir  of  all. 
Creator  of  the  highest  angels,  Himself  being  before 
they  came  into  existence.  Such  He  is  before  His 
assumption  of  humanity.  But  it  pleased  God  that  in 
Him,  also  as  God-Man,  all  the  plenitude  of  the  Divine 
attributes  should  dwell ;  so  that  the  Mediator  is  not  an 
emanation,  neither  human  nor  Divine,  but  is  Himself 
God  and  Man.* 

Recent  expositors  have  sufficiently  proved  that  there 
was  a  Judaic  element  in   the    Colossian  heresy.     We 

*  Col.  i.  15,  19. 


THE  SON  AND    THE  ANGELS,  23 


need  not,  therefore,  hesitate  to  admit  that  the  Epistle 
to  the  Hebrews  contains  references  to  the  same  error. 
Oar  author  acknowledges  the  existence  of  angels.  He 
declares  that  the  Law  was  given  through  angels,  which 
is  a  point  not  touched  upon  more  than  once  in  the 
Old  Testament,  but  seemingly  taken  for  granted,  rather 
than  expressly  announced,  in  the  New.  Stephen 
reproaches  the  Jews,  who  had  received  the  Law  as 
the  ordinances  of  angels,  with  having  betrayed  and 
murdered  the  Righteous  One,  of  Whom  the  Law  and 
the  prophets  spake.*  St.  Paul,  like  the  author  of  the 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  argues  that  the  Law  differs 
from  the  promise  in  having  been  ordained  through 
angels,  as  mediators  between  the  Lord  and  His  people 
Israel,  whereas  the  promise  was  given  by  God,  not 
as  a  compact  between  two  parties,  but  as  the  free  act 
of  Him  Who  is  one.f  The  main  purpose  of  the  first 
and  second  chapters  of  our  Epistle  is  to  maintain  the 
superiority  of  the  Son  to  the  angels,  of  Him  in  Whom 
God  has  spoken  unto  us  to  the  mediators  through 
whom  He  gave  the  Law. 

The  defect  of  the  doctrine  of  emanations  was  two- 
fold. They  are  supposed  to  consist  of  a  long  chain  of 
intermediate  beings.  But  the  chain  does  not  connect 
at  either  end.     God  is  still  absolutely  unapproachable 

*  Acts  vii.  53  t  Gal.  iii.  19. 


24  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS, 

by  man;  man  is  still  inaccessible  to  God.  It  is  in 
vain  new  links  are  forged.  The  chain  does  not,  and 
never  will,  bring  man  and  God  together.  The  only 
solution  of  the  problem  must  be  found  in  One  Who  is 
God  and  Man  ;  and  this  is  precisely  the  doctrine  of 
our  author,  on  the  one  hand,  that  the  Revealer  of  God 
is  Son  of  God ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the  Son 
of  God  is  our  brother-man.  The  former  statement  is 
proved,  and  a  practical  warning  based  upon  it,  in  the 
section  that  extends  from  chap.  i.  4  to  chap.  ii.  4. 
The  latter  is  the  subject  of  the  section  from  chap, 
ii.  5  to  chap.  ii.  18. 

I.  The  Revealer  of  God  Son  of  God. 

*'  Having  become  by  so  much  better  than  the  angels,  as  He  hath 
inherited  a  more  excellent  name  than  they.  For  unto  which  of  the 
angels  said  He  at  any  time, 

Thou  art  my  Son, 

This  day  have  I  begotten  Thee? 


and  again, 


I  will  be  to  Him  a  Father, 
And  He  shall  be  to  Me  a  Son  ? 


And  when  He  again  bringeth  in  the  Firstborn  into  the  world  He  saith, 
And  let  all  the  angels  of  God  worship  Him.  And  of  the  angels  He 
saith 

Who  maketh  His  angels  winds, 
And  His  ministers  a  flame  of  fire : 
but  of  the  Son  He  ^aithy 

Thy  throne,  O  God,  is  for  ever  and  ever ; 

And  the  sceptre  of  uprightness  is  the  sceptre  of  Thy  kingdom. 


i.4-ii.4]  THE  SON  AND    THE  ANGELS.  25 

Thou  hast  loved  righteousness,  and  hated  iniquity; 
Therefore  God,  Thy  God,  hath  anointed  Thee 
With  the  oil  of  gladness  above  Thy  fellows. 

And, 

Thou,  Lord,  in  the  beginning  hast  laid  the  foundation  of  the  earth, 

And  the  heavens  are  the  works  of  Thy  hands  : 

They  sh?ll  perish  ;  but  Thou  continuest  : 

And  they  all  shall  wax  old  as  doth  a  garment  j 

And  as  a  mantle  shalt  Thou  roll  them  up, 

As  a  garment,  and  they  shall  be  changed  ; 

But  Thou  art  the  same, 

And  Thy  years  shall  not  fail. 

But  of  which  of  the  angels  hath  He  said  at  any  time, 

Sit  Thou  on  My  right  hand^ 

Till  I  make  Thine  enemies  the  footstool  of  Thy  feet  ? 

Are   they  not  all  ministering  spirits,  sent  forth  to  do  service  for  the 
sake  of  them  that  shall  inherit  salvation  ? 

Therefore  we  ought  to  give  the  more  earnest  heed  to  the  things  that 
were  heard,  lest  haply  we  drift  away  from  them.  For  if  the  word 
spoken  through  angels  proved  steadfast,  and  every  transgression  and 
disobedience  received  a  just  recompense  of  reward  ;  how  shall  we 
escape,  if  we  neglect  so  great  salvation?  which  having  at  the  first 
been  spoken  through  the  Lord,  was  confirmed  unto  us  by  them  that 
heard  ;  God  also  bearing  witness  with  them,  both  by  signs  and  wonders, 
and  by  manifold  powers,  and  by  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  according  to 
Jlis  own  will "  (Heb.  i.  4 — ii.  4,  R.V.). 

Christ  is  Son  of  God,  not  in  the  sense  in  which 
angels,  as  a  class  of  beings,  are  designated  by  this 
name,  but  as  He  Who  has  taken  His  seat  on  the  right 
hand  of  the  Majesty  on  high.  The  greatness  of  His 
position  is  proportionate  to  the  excellency  of  the  name 


26  THE  EPISTLE    TO   THE  HEBREWS. 


of  Son.  This  name  He  has  not  obtained  by  favour  nor 
attained  by  effort,  but  inherited  by  indefeasible  right. 
Josephus  says  that  the  Essenes  forbade  their  disciples 
to  divulge  the  names  of  the  angels.  But  He  Who  has 
revealed  God  has  been  revealed  Himself.  He  is  Son. 
Which  of  the  angels  was  ever  so  addressed  ?  To  speak 
of  the  angels  as  sons  and  yet  say  that  not  one  of  them 
individually  is  a  son  may  be  self-contradictory  in 
words,  but  the  thought  is  consistent  and  true. 

From  the  pre-existent  Son,  regarded  as  the  idealised 
theocratic  King,  the  Apostle  passes  to  the  incarnate 
Christ,  returning  to  the  world  which  He  has  redeemed, 
and  out  of  which  He  brings  *  many  sons  of  God  unto 
glory.  God  brings  Him  also  in  as  the  First-begotten 
among  these  many  brethren.  But  our  Lord  Himself 
describes  His  coming.  *'  The  Son  of  man  shall  come 
in  His  glory,  and  all  the  angels  with  Him."  f  In 
allusion  to  this  saying  of  Christ,  the  Apostle  applies  to 
His  second  advent  the  words  which  in  the  Septuagint 
Version  of  the  Old  Testament  are  a  summons  to  all 
the  angels  to  worship  Jehovah.  They  are  the  Son's 
ministers.  Like  swift  winds,  they  convey  His 
messages ;  or  they  carry  destruction  at  His  bidding, 
like  a  flame  of  fire,  But  the  Son  is  enthroned  God 
for  ever.     The  sceptre  of  righteousness,  by  whomso- 

*  orjaribvTH.  f  Matt.  xxv.  31, 


i.  4-ii.  4-]  THE  SON  AND   THE  ANGELS.  27 

ever  borne,  is  the  sceptre  of  His  kingdom  ;  all  thrones 
and  powers,  human  and  angeHc,  hold  sway  under  Him. 
They  are  His  fellows,  and  participate  only  in  His 
ro3^al  gladness,  Whose  joy  surpasses  theirs. 

The  author  reverts  to  the  Son's  pre-incarnate  exist- 
ence. The  Son  created  earth  and  heaven,  and,  for  that 
reason,  He  remains  when  the  works  of  His  hand  wax 
old,  as  a  garment.  Creation  is  the  vesture  of  the  Son. 
In  all  the  changes  of  nature  the  Son  puts  off  a 
garment,  while  He  remains  unchanged  Himself. 

Finally,  our  author  glances  at  the  triumphant  con- 
summation, when  God  will  do  for  His  Son  what  He 
will  not  do  for  the  angels.  For  He  will  make  His 
enemies  the  footstool  of  His  feet,  as  the  reward  of 
His  redemptive  work.  The  angels  have  no  enemy  to 
conquer.  Neither  are  they  the  authors  of  our  redemp- 
tion. Yea,  they  are  not  even  the  redeemed.  The 
Son  is  the  Heir  of  the  throne.  Men  are  the  heirs  of 
salvation.  Must  we,  then,  quite  exclude  the  angels 
from  all  present  activity  in  the  kingdom  of  the  Son  ? 
Do  they  altogether  belong  to  a  past  epoch  in  the 
development  of  God's  revelation  ?  Must  we  say  of 
them,  as  astronomers  speak  of  the  moon,  that  they  are 
dead  worlds  ?  Shall  we  not  rather  find  a  place  for 
them  in  the  spirit-world  corresponding  to  the  office 
filled  in  the  sphere  of  nature  by  the  works  of  God's 
hands  ?     God  has  His  earthly  ministers.     Are  not  the 


28  THE  EFISTLE    TO    THE  HEBREWS. 

angels  ministering  spirits  ?  The  Apostle  puts  the 
question  tentatively.  But  the  pious  instinct  of  the 
Church  and  of  good  men  has  answered,  Yes.  For  salva- 
tion has  created  a  nev^r  form  of  service  for  which  nature 
is  not  fitted.  The  narrative  of  the  Son's  own  life  on 
earth  suggests  the  same  reply.  For  an  angel  appeared 
unto  Him  in  Gethsemane  and  strengthened  Him.*  It 
is  true  that  the  Son  Himself  is  the  Minister  of  the 
sanctuary.  He  alone  serves  in  the  holiest  place.  But 
may  not  the  angels  be  sent  forth  to  minister  ?  Salva- 
tion is  the  work  of  the  Son.  But  shall  we  not  say  that 
the  angels  perform  a  service  for  the  Son,  which  is 
possible  only  because  of  m.en  who  are  now  on  the  eve 
of  inheriting  that  salvation  ? 

We  must  beware  of  minimising  the  significance  of 
the  Apostle's  words.  If  he  means  by  ''  Son  "  merely 
an  official  designation,  where  is  the  difference  between 
the  Son  and  the  angels  ?  The  only  definition  of 
*'  Son "  that  will  satisfy  the  argument  is  ^'  God  the 
Revealer  of  God."  SabeUius  said,  ^'The  Word  is  not 
the  Son."  The  contrary  doctrine  is  necessary  to  give 
any  value  to  the  reasoning  of  our  Epistle.  The 
Revealer  is  Son ;  and  the  Son,  in  order  to  be  the  full 
Revealer,  must  be  "  of  the  essence  of  the  Father," 
inasmuch  as  God  only  can  perfectly  reveal  God.     This 

*  Luke  xxii.  43.    The  genuineness  of  the  verse  is  somewhat  doubtful. 


i.4-ii.4]  THE  SON  AND    THE  ANGELS.  29 

is  SO  vital  to  the  Apostle's  argument  that  he  need  not 
hesitate  to  use  a  term  in  refeience  to  the  Son  which 
in  another  connection  might  be  liable  to  be  misunder- 
stood, as  if  it  expressed  the  theory  of  emanation. 
The  Son  is  "  the  effulgence "  of  the  Father's  glory, 
or,  in  the  words  of  the  Nicene  Creed,  He  is  "  Light 
out  of  Light."  It  is  safe  to  use  such  words  when  our 
very  argument  demands  that  He  should  also  be  "the 
distinct  impress  of  His  substance," — "  very  God  out 
of  very  God." 

The  Apostle  has  now  laid  the  foundation  of  his 
great  argument.  He  has  shown  us  the  Son  as  the 
Revealer  of  God.  This  done,  he  at  once  introduces 
his  first  practical  warning.  It  is  his  manner.  He 
does  not,  like  St.  Paul,  first  conclude  the  argumentative 
portion  of  his  Epistle,  and  afterwards  heap  precept  on 
precept  in  words  of  warning,  sympathy,  or  encourage- 
ment. Our  author  alternates  argument  with  exhorta- 
tion. The  Epistle  wears  to  a  superficial  reader  the 
appearance  of  a  mosaic.  The  truth  is  that  no  book  in 
the  New  Testament  is  more  thoroughly  or  more  skil- 
fully welded  into  one  piece  from  beginning  to  end. 
But  the  danger  was  imminent,  and  urgent  warning 
was  needed  at  every  step.  One  truth  was  better  fitted 
to  drive  home  one  lesson,  and  another  argument  to 
enforce  another. 

The    first   danger  of  the  Hebrew  Christians  would 


30  THE  EPISTLE    TO    THE  HEBREWS. 

— w ~~~ 

arise  from  indifference.  The  first  warning  of  the 
Apostle  is,  Take  care  that  you  do  not  drift.*  In  the 
Son  as  the  Revealer  of  God  we  have  a  sure  anchorage. 
Let  us  fasten  the  vessel  to  its  moorings.  That  the 
Son  has  revealed  God  is  beyond  question.  The  fact 
is  well  assured.  For  the  message  of  salvation  has 
been  proclaimed  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Himself.  It  has 
run  its  course  down  to  the  writer  of  the  Epistle  and 
his  readers  through  the  testimony  of  eye-witnesses 
and  ear-witnesses.  God  Himself  has  borne  witness 
with  these  faithful  men  by  signs  and  wonders  and 
divers  manifestations  of  power,  yea  by  giving  the 
Holy  Ghost  to  each  one  severally  according  to  His 
own  will.  The  last  words  are  not  to  be  neglected. 
The  apparent  arbitrariness  of  His  sovereign  will  in  the 
distribution  of  the  Spirit  lends  force  to  the  proof,  by 
pointing  to  the  direct,  personal  action  of  God  in  this 
great  concern. 

But  the  warning  is  based,  not  simply  on  the  fact 
of  a  revelation,  but  on  the  greatness  of  the  Revealer. 
The  Law  was  given  through  angels,  and  the  Law  was 
not  transgressed  with  impunity.  How,  then,  shall  we 
escape  God's  anger  if  we  contemptuously  neglect  a 
salvation  so  great  that  no  one  less  than  the  Son  could 
have  wrought  or  revealed  it? 

*  /uy)  iTapapvQ)ix€v  (ii.  i). 


i.  4-ii.  4.]  THE  SON  AND    THE  ANGELS.  31 

Observe  the  emphatic  notions.  Salvation  is  contrasted 
with  \2iW.  It  is  a  greater  sin  to  despise  God's  free, 
merciful  offer  of  eternal  hfe  than  to  transgress  the 
commandments  of  His  justice.  There  may  be  emphasis 
also  on  the  certainty  of  the  proof.  The  word  spoken 
by  angels  was  firmly  assured,  and,  because  no  man  could 
shelter  under  the  plea  that  the  heavenly  authority  of  the 
message  was  doubtful,  disobedience  met  with  unspar- 
ing retribution.  But  the  Gospel  is  proved  to  be  of 
God  by  still  more  abundant  evidence, — the  personal 
testimony  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  the  witness  of  those  who 
heard  Him,  and  the  cumulative  argument  of  gifts  and 
miracles.  .  While  these  truths  are  emphatic,  more 
important  than  all  is  the  fact  that  the  Son  is  the  Giver 
of  this  salvation.  The  thought  seems  to  be  that  God 
is  jealous  for  the  honour  of  His  Son.  Our  Lord  Him- 
self teaches  this,  and  the  form  which  it  assumes  in 
His  parable  implies  that  He  speaks,  not  as  a  specula- 
tive moralist,  but  as  One  Who  knows  God's  heart: 
"Last  of  all  he  sent  unto  them  his  son,  saying, 
They  will  reverence  my  son."  But  when  Christ  asks 
His  hearers  what  the  lord  of  the  vineyard  will  do 
unto  those  wicked  husbandmen,  the  mianner  of  their 
reply  shows  that  they  only  half  understand  His  mean- 
ing or  else  pretend  not  to  see  the  point  of  His  question. 
They  acknowledge  the  husbandmen's  wickedness,  but 
profess  that  it  consists  largely  in  not  rendering  to  the 


32  THE  EPISTLE    TO    THE  HEBREWS. 


owner  the  fruits  in  their  season,  as  if,  forsooth,  their 
wickedness  in  killing  their  master's  son  had  not  thrust 
their  dishonesty  quite  out  of  sight.*  The  Apostle, 
too,  appeals  to  his  readers,!  evidently  in  the  belief 
that  they  would  at  once  feel  the  force  of  his  argument, 
whether  trampling  under  foot  the  Son  of  God  did  not 
deserve  sorer  punishment  than  despising  the  law  of 
Moses,  Christ  and  the  Apostle  speak  in  the  spirit 
of  the  second  Psalm  :  "  Thou  art  My  Son.  Ask  of  Me, 
and  I  shall  give  Thee  the  heathen  for  Thine  inheritance, 
and  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  for  Thy  posses- 
sion. .  .  .  Kiss  the  Son  !  "  Now,  if  Christ  adopts  this 
language,  it  is  not  mere  metaphor,  but  is  a  truth  con- 
cerning God's  moral  nature.  Resentment  must,  in 
some  sense  or  other,  belong  to  God's  Fatherhood.  The 
doctrine  of  the  Trinity  implies  the  necessary  and 
eternal  altruism  of  the  Divine  nature.  It  would  not 
be  true  to  say  that  the  God  of  the  Christians  was  less 
jealous  than  the  God  of  the  Hebrews.  He  is  still  the 
living  God.  It  is  a  fearful  thing  to  fall  into  His  hands. 
He  will  still  vindicate  the  majesty  of  His  law.  But 
now  He  has  spoken  unto  us  in  One  Who  is  Son.  The 
Judge  of  all  is  not  a  mere  official  Administrator,  but 
a  Father.  The  place  occupied  in  the  Old  Testament 
by  the  Law  is  now  filled  by  the  Son. 

*     Matt,  xxi,  33,  sqq.  f  Heb.  x.  29. 


ii.5-i8.]  THE  SON  AND   THE  ANGELS.  33 


II.  The  Son  the  Representative  of  Man. 

**For  not  unto  angels  did  He  subject  the  world  to  come,  whereof  we 
speak.     But  one  hath  somewhere  testified,  saying, 

What  is  man,  that  Thou  art  mindful  of  him? 
Or  the  son  of  man,  that  Thou  visitest  him  ? 
Thou  madest  him  a  little  lower  than  the  angels  ; 
Thou  crownedst  him  with  glory  and  honour. 
And  didst  set  him  over  the  works  of  Thy  hands  : 
Thou  didst  put  all  things  in  subjection  under  his  feet. 

For  in  that  He  subjected  all  things  unto  him,  He  left  nothing  that  is 
not  subject  to  him.  But  now  we  see  not  yet  all  things  subjected  to 
him.  But  we  behold  Him  Who  hath  been  made  a  little  lower  than  the 
angels,  even  Jesus,  because  of  the  suffering  of  death  crowned  with  glory 
and  honour,  that  by  the  grace  of  God  He  should  taste  death  for  every 
man.  For  it  became  Him,  for  Whom  are  all  things,  and  through 
Whom  are  all  things,  in  bringing  many  sons  unto  glory,  to  make  the 
Author  of  their  salvation  perfect  through  sufferings.  For  both  He 
that  sanctifieth  and  they  that  are  sanctified  are  all  of  one :  for  which 
cause  He  is  not  ashamed  to  call  them  brethren,  saying, 

I  will  declare  Thy  name  unto  My  brethren, 

In  the  midst  of  the  congregation  will  I  sing  Thy  praise 

And  again,  I  will  put  My  trust  in  Him.  And  again,  Behold,  I  and  the 
children  which  God  hath  given  Me.  Since  then  the  children  are 
sharers  in  flesh  and  blood,  He  also  Himself  in  like  manner  partook  of 
the  same  ;  that  through  death  He  might  bring  to  nought  him  that  had 
the  power  of  death,  that  is,  the  devil ;  and  might  deliver  all  them  who 
through  fear  of  death  were  all  their  lifetime  subject  to  bondage.  For 
verily  not  of  angels  doth  He  take  hold,  but  He  taketh  hold  of  the  seed 
of  Abraham.  Wherefore  it  behoved  Him  in  all  things  to  be  made  like 
unto  His  brethren,  that  He  might  be  a  merciful  and  faithful  High-priest 
in  things  pertaining  to  God,  to  make  propitiation  for  the  sins  of  the 
people.  For  in  that  He  Himself  hath  suffered  being  tempted.  He  is 
able  to  succour  them  that  are  tempted  "  (Heb.  ii.  51—8,  R.  V.). 

3 


34  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS. 

The  Son  is  better  than  the  angels,  not  only  because 
He  is  the  Revealer  of  God,  but  also  because  He  repre- 
sents man.  We  have  to  do  with  more  than  spoken 
promises.  The  salvation  through  Christ  raises  man  to 
a  new  dignity,  and  bestows  upon  him  a  new  authority. 
God  calls  into  existence  a  "  world  to  come,"  and  puts 
that  world  in  subjection,  not  to  angels,  but  to  man. 

The  passage  on  the  consideration  of  which  we  now 
enter  is  difficult,  because  the  interpretation  offered  by 
some  of  the  best  expositors,  though  at  first  sight  it  has 
the  appearance  of  simplicity,  really  introduces  confusion 
into  the  argument.  They  think  the  words  of  the 
Psalmist,*  as  applied  by  the  Apostle,  refer  to  Christ 
only.  But  the  Psalmist  evidently  contrasts  the  frailty 
of  man  with  the  authority  bestowed  upon  him  by 
Jehovah.  Mortal  man  has  been  set  over  the  works  -of 
God's  hand.  Man  is  for  a  little  inferior  to  the  angels; 
yet  he  is  crowned  with  glory  and  honour.  The  very 
contrast  between  his  frailty  and  his  dignity  exalts  the 
name  of  his  Creator,  Who  judges  not  as  we  judge. 
For  He  confronts  His  blasphemers  with  the  lisping  of 
children,  and  weak  man  He  crowns  king  of  creation,  in 
order  to  put  to  shame  the  wisdom  of  the  world.f 

We  cannot  suppose  that  this  is  said  of  Christ,  the 
Son  of  God.     But  there  are  two  expressions   in  the 

♦  Ps.  viii.  4,  \  Ps.  viii.  2. 


ii.  5-18.]  THE  SON  AND    THE  ANGELS,  35 

Psalm  that  suggested  to  St.  Paul  *  and  the  author  of  this 
Epistle  a  Messianic  reference.  The  one  is  the  name 
^'  Son  of  man ; "  the  other  is  the  action  ascribed  to 
God  :  ^'  Thou  hast  made  him  lower  than  the  angels." 
The  word  f  used  by  the  Seventy,  whose  translation  the 
Apostle  here  and  elsewhere  adopts,  means,  not,  as  the 
Hebrew,  *'to  create  lower,"  but  "  to  bring  from  a  more 
exalted  to  a  humbler  condition."  Christ  appropriated 
to  Himself  the  title  of  "  Son  of  man ;  "  and  "  to  lower 
from  a  higher  to  a  less  exalted  position "  applies  only 
to  the  Son  of  God,  Whose  pre-existence  is  taught  by 
the  Apostle  in  chap.  i.  The  point  of  the  Apostle's 
application  of  the  Psalm  must,  therefore,  be  that  in 
Christ  alone  have  the  Psalmist's  words  been  fulfilled. 
The  Psalmist  was  a  prophet,  and  testified.J  In  addition 
to  the  witnesses  previously  mentioned, §  the  Apostle 
cites  the  evidence  from  prophecy.  An  inspired  seer, 
"seeing  this  beforehand,  spake  of  Christ,"  not  primarily, 
but  in  a  mystery  now  explained  in  the  New  Testament. 
The  distinction  also  between  crowning  with  glory  and 
putting  all  things  under  his  feet  holds  true  only  of 
Christ.  The  Psalmist,  we  admit,  appears  to  identify 
them.  But  the  relevancy  of  the  Apostle's  use  of  the 
Psalm  lies  in  the  distinction  between  these  two  things. 


*  I  Cor.  XV.  27,  +  Cf.  Acts  ii.  30. 

f  •^XdrToxra?.  §  Chap.  ii.  4. 


36  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS. 

The  creature  man  may  be  said  to  be  crowned  with 
glory  and  honour  by  receiving  universal  dominion  and 
by  the  subjection  of  all  things  under  his  feet.  "  But 
we  see  not  yet  all  things  put  under  him  ; "  and, 
consequently,  we  see  not  man  crowned  with  glory  and 
honour.  The  words  of  the  Psalmist  have  apparently 
failed  of  fulfilment  or  were  at  best  only  poetical 
exaggeration.  But  Him  Who  was  actually  translated 
from  a  higher  to  a  lower  place  than  that  of  angels,  from 
heaven  to  earth — that  is  to  say,  Jesus,  the  meek  and 
lowly  Man  of  Nazareth — we  see  crowned  with  glory 
and  honour.  He  has  ascended  to  heaven  and  sat  down 
on  the  right  hand  of  the  Majesty  on  high.  So  far  the 
prophecy  has  come  true,  but  only  so  far.  All  things 
have  not  yet  been  put  under  Him.  He  is  still  waiting 
till  He  has  put  all  enemies,  even  the  last  enemy,  which 
is  death,  under  His  feet.  As,  then,  the  glory  and 
honour  are  bestowed  on  man  through  his  Representative, 
Jesus,  so  also  dominion  is  given  him  only  through 
Jesus ;  and  the  glory  comes  only  with  the  dominion. 
Every  honour  that  falls  to  man's  share  is  won  for  him 
by  the  victory  of  Christ  over  an  enemy.  This  is  the 
nearest  approach  in  our  Epistle  to  the  Pauline  conception 
of  Christ  as  the  second  Adam. 

But  is  there  any  connection  between  Christ's  victory 
and  His  being  made  lower  than  the  angels  ?  When  the 
Psalmist  describes  the  great  dignity  conferred  on  frail 


ii.  5.18.]  THE  SON  AND    THE  ANGELS.  37 

man,  he  sees  only  the  contrast  between  the  dignity  and 
the  frailty.  He  can  only  wonder  and  worship  in 
observing  the  incomprehensible  paradox  of  God's  deal- 
ings with  man.  The  Apostle,  on  the  other  hand, 
fathoms  this  mystery.  He  gives  the  reasons  for  the 
strange  connection  of  power  and  feebleness,  not  indeed 
in  reference  to  man  as  a  creature,  but  in  reference  to 
the  Man  Christ  Jesus.  Apart  from  Christ  the  problem 
that  struck  the  Psalmist  with  awe  remains  unsolved. 
But  in  Christ's  incarnation  we  see  why  man's  glory  and 
dominion  rest  on  humiliation. 

I.  Christ's  humiliation  involved  a  propitiatory  death 
for  every  man,  and  He  is  crowned  with  glory  and 
honour  that  His  propitiation  may  prove  effectual :  "that 
He  may  have  tasted  *  death  for  every  man."  By  His 
glory  we  must  mean  the  self-manifestation  of  His 
person.  Honour  is  the  authority  bestowed  upon  Him 
by  God.  Both  are  the  result  of  His  suffering  death, 
or  rather  the  suffering  of  His  death.  He  is  glorified, 
not  simply  because  He  suffered,  but  because  His  suffer- 
ing was  of  a  certain  kind  and  quality.  It  was  a  pro- 
pitiatory suffering.  Christ  Himself  prayed  His  Father 
to  glorify  Him  with  His  own  self  with  the  glory  He 
had  with  the  Father  before  the  world  was.f  This 
glory  was  His  by  right  of  Sonship.     But  He  receives 

♦  7ei;(r?jTat  (ii.  9).  t  Joh'^  ^vii.  5. 


38  THE  EPISTLE    TO   THE  HEBREWS. 

from  His  Father  another  glory,  not  by  right,  but  by 
God's  grace.*  It  consists  in  having  His  death  ac- 
cepted and  acknowledged  as  an  adequate  propitiation 
for  the  sins  of  men.  In  this  verse  the  great  conception 
of  atonement,  which  hereafter  will  fill  so  large  a  place 
in  the  Epistle,  is  introduced,  not  at  present  for  its  own 
sake,  but  in  order  to  show  the  superiority  of  Christ  to 
the  angels.  He  is  greater  than  they  because  He  is  the 
representative  Man,  to  Whom,  and  not  to  the  angels, 
the  w^orld  to  come  has  been  put  in  subjection.  But 
the  Psalmist  has  taught  us  that  man's  greatness  is 
connected  with  humiliation.  This  connection  is  realised 
In  Christ,  Whose  exaltation  is  the  Divine  acceptance 
of  the  propitiation  wrought  in  the  days  of  His  humilia- 
tion, and  the  means  of  giving  it  effect. 

2.  Christ's  glory  consists  in  being  Leader  f  of  His 
people,  and  for  such  leadership  He  was  fitted  by  the 
discipline  of  humiliation.  There  is  no  incongruity  in 
the  works  of  God  because  He  is  Himself  the  ground  of 
their  being  J  and  the  instrument  of  His  own  action.  § 
Every  adaptation  of  means  to  an  end  would  not  become 
God,  though  it  might  befit  man.  But  this  became  Him 
for  Whom  and  through  Whom  are  all  things.  When  He 
crowns  man  with  glory  and  honour,  He  does  this,  not 
by  an   external  ordinance    merely,  but  by  an   inward 

*  x<^pt^t'  t  o,pXVyov  (ii.  lo).  J  Si  6v.  §  di  o5. 


ii.  5- 1 8.]  THE  SON  AND   THE  ANGELS. 


39 


fitness.  He  deals,  not  with  an  abstraction,  but  with 
individual  men,  whom  He  makes  His  sons  and  prepares 
for  their  glory  and  honour  by  the  discipline  of  sons. 
*'  For  what  son  is  there  whom  his  father  does  not  disci- 
pline?" *  Thus  it  is  more  true  to  say  that  God  leads  His 
sons  to  glory  than  to  say  that  He  bestows  glory  upon 
them.  It  follows  that  the  representative  Man,  through 
Whom  these  many  sons  are  glorified,  must  Himself  pass 
through  like  discipline,  that,  on  behalf  of  God,  He  may 
become  their  Leader  and  the  Captain  of  their  salvation. 
It  became  God  to  endow  the  Son,  in  Whose  Sonship 
men  are  adopted  as  sons  of  God,  with  inward  fitness, 
through  sufferings,  to  lead  them  on  to  their  destined 
glory.  Perhaps  the  verse  contains  an  allusion  to  Moses 
or  Joshua,  the  leaders  of  the  Lord's  redeemed  to  the 
rich  land  and  large.  If  so,  the  author  is  preparing  his 
readers  for  what  he  has  yet  to  say. 

3.  Christ's  glory  consists  in  power  to  consecrate  f 
men  to  God,  and  this  power  springs  from  His  conscious- 
ness of  brotherhood  with  them.  But,  first  of  all,  the 
author  thinks  it  necessary  to  prove  that  Christ  has  a 
deep  consciousness  of  brotherhood  with  men.  He  cites 
Christ's  own  words  from  prophetic  Scripture. f  For 
Christ  has  vowed  unto  the  Lord,  Who  has  delivered 
Him,   that    He  will   declare    God's    name   unto   His 

*  Chap.  xii.  7.  f  b  iyia'^wv  (ii.  Ii).  %  ^^-  x^"-  22. 


40  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS. 

brethren.  Here  the  pith  of  the  argument  is  quite  as 
much  in  the  vow  to  reveal  God  to  them  as  in  His  giving 
them  the  name  of  brethren.  He  is  so  drawn  in  love  to 
them  that  He  is  impelled  to  speak  to  them  about  the 
Father.  Yea,  in  the  midst  of  the  Church,  as  if  He 
were  one  of  the  congregation,  He  will  praise  God. 
They  praise  God  for  His  Son  ;  the  Son  joins  in  the 
praise,  as  being  thankful  for  the  privilege  of  being  their 
Saviour,  while  they  offer  their  thanks  for  the  joy  of 
being  saved.  That  is  not  all.  Christ  puts  His  trust 
in  God.  So  human  is  He  that,  conscious  of  utter 
weakness,  He  leans  on  God,  as  the  feeblest  of  His 
brethren.  Finally,  His  triumphant  joy  at  the  safety 
of  His  redeemed  ones  arises  from  this  consciousness 
of  brotherhood.  ^'  Behold,  I  and  the  children "  (of 
God)  "which  God  hath  given  Me."*  The  Apostle 
does  not  fear  to  apply  to  Christ  what  Isaiah  f  spoke  in 
reference  to  himself  and  his  disciples,  the  children  of 
the  prophet.  Christ's  brotherhood  with  men  assumes 
the  form  of  identifying  Himself  with  His  prophetic 
servants.  Evidently  He  is  not  ashamed  of  His 
brethren,  though,  like  Joseph,  He  has  reason  to  be 
ashamed  of  them  for  their  sin.  The  expression  means 
that  He  glories  in  them,  because  His  assumption  oi 
humanity  has  consecrated  them.     For  this  consecration 

♦  Chap.  ii.  13.  f  Isa.  viii.  i8. 


ii.S-i8.]  THE  SON  AND   THE  ANGELS,  \l 


springs  from  union.  We  do  not,  for  our  part,  under- 
stand this  as  a  general  proposition,  of  which  the 
sanctifying  power  of  Christ  is  an  illustration.  No  othei 
instance  of  such  a  thing  exists.  Yet  the  Apostle  does 
not  prove  the  statement.  He  appeals  to  the  intelligence 
and  conscience  of  his  readers  to  acknowledge  its  truth. 
Whether  we  understand  the  word  "  sanctification "  in 
the  sense  of  moral  consecration  through  an  atonement 
or  in  the  sense  of  holy  character,  it  springs  from  union. 
Christ  cannot  sanctify  by  a  creative  word  or  by  an  act 
of  power.  Neither  can  His  power  to  sanctify  be  trans- 
mitted by  God  to  the  Son  externally,  in  the  same  way 
in  which  the  Creator  bestows  on  nature  its  vital,  fer- 
tilising energy.  Christ  must  derive  His  power  to 
sanctify  through  His  Sonship,  and  men  must  become 
sons  of  God  that  they  may  be  sanctified  through  the 
Son.  Our  passage  adds  Christ's  brotherhood.  He 
that  consecrates,  therefore,  and  they  that  are  conse- 
crated are  united  together,  first,  by  being  born  of  the 
same  Divine  Father,  and,  second,  by  having  the  same 
human  nature.  Here,  again,  the  chain  connects  at 
both  ends :  on  the  side  of  God  and  on  the  side  of  man. 
Now  to  have  dwelling  in  Him  the  power  of  consecrating 
men  to  God  is  so  great  an  endowment  that  Christ  may 
dare  even  to  glory  in  the  brotherhood  that  brings  with 
it  such  a  gift. 

4.  Christ's  glory  manifests  itself  in  the  destruction  of 


42  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS, 

Satan,  who  had  the  power  of  death,  and  his  destruction 
is  accompHshed  through  death.*  The  children  of  God 
have  every  one  his  share  of  blood  and  flesh,  which 
means  vital,  mortal  humanity.  Blood  signifies  life,  and 
flesh  the  mortality  of  that  life.  They  are,  therefore, 
subject  to  disease  and  death.  But  to  the  Hebrews 
disease  and  death  involved  vastly  more  than  physical 
suffering  and  the  termination  of  man's  earthly  existence. 
They  had  their  angel,  by  which  is  meant  that  they 
had  a  moral  significance.  They  were  spiritual  forces, 
wielded  by  a  messenger  of  God.  This  angel  was 
Satan.  But,  following  the  lead  of  the  later  Jewish 
theology,  our  author  explains  who  Satan  really  is.  He 
identifies  him  with  the  evil  spirit,  who  from  envy,  says 
the  Book  of  Wisdom,  brought  death  into  the  world. 
To  make  clear  this  identification,  he  adds  the  words, 
that  is,  the  devil."  The  reference  to  Satan  is  sufii- 
cient  to  show  that  the  writer  of  the  Epistle  means  by 
"  the  power  of  death  "  power  to  inflict  it  and  keep  men 
in  its  terrible  grasp.  But  the  difficulty  is  to  under- 
stand how  the  devil  is  destroyed  through  death. 
Evidently  the  death  of  Christ  is  meant;  we  may 
paraphrase  the  Apostle's  expression  by  rendering, 
'*  through  His  death."  At  first  glance,  the  words, 
taken   in   connection   with    the    reference   to   Christ's 

♦Chap.  ii.   14. 


ii.  5-18.]  THE  SON  AND   THE  ANGELS.  43 

humanity,  seem  to  favour  the  doctrine,  propounded  by 
many  writers  in  the  early  ages  of  the  Church,  that  God 
delivered  His  Son  to  Satan  as  the  price  of  man's 
release  from  his  rightful  possession.  Such  a  notion  is 
utterly  inconsistent  with  the  dominant  idea  of  the 
Epistle  :  the  priestly  character  of  Christ's  death.  A 
Hebrew  Christian  could  not  conceive  the  high-priest 
entering  the  holiest  place  to  offer  a  redemptive  sacrifice 
to  the  spirit  of  evil.  Indeed,  the  advocates  of  this 
strange  theory  of  the  Atonement  admitted  as  much 
when  they  described  Christ  as  outwitting  the  devil  or 
escaping  from  his  hands  by  persuasion.  But  the 
doctrine  is  quite  as  inconsistent  with  the  passage  before 
us,  which  represents  the  death  of  Christ  as  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  Evil  One.  Power  faces  power.  Christ  is 
the  Captain  of  salvation.  His  leadership  of  men  im- 
plies conflict  with  their  enemy  and  ultimate  victory. 
Death  was  a  spiritual  conception.  Here  lay  its  power. 
Deliverance  from  the  crushing  bondage  of  its  fear  could 
come  only  through  the  great  High-priest.  Priesthood 
was  the  basis  of  Christ's  power.  We  shall  soon  see 
that  Christ  is  the  Priest-King.  The  Apostle  even  now 
anticipates  what  he  has  hereafter  to  say  on  the  relation 
of  the  priesthood  to  the  kingly  power.  For  as  Priest 
Christ  delivers  men  from  guilt  of  conscience  and,  by  so 
doing,  delivers  them  from  their  fear  of  death ;  as  King 
He  destroys  him  who  had  the  power  to  destroy.     He  is 


44  THE  EPISTLE    TO    THE  HEBREWS. 

'Meath  of  death  and  hell's  destruction."  It  has  been 
well  said  that  the  two  terrors  from  which  none  but 
Christ  can  deliver  men  are  guilt  of  sin  and  fear  of 
death.  The  latter  is  the  offspring  of  the  former. 
When  the  conscience  of  sin  is  no  more^  dread  of  death 
yields  to  peace  and  joy. 

In  these  four  ways  is  the  glory  of  Christ  connected 
with  humiliation,  and  thus  will  the  prophecy  of  the 
Psalmist  find  its  fulfilment  in  the  representative  Man, 
Jesus.  His  humiliation  implied  propitiation,  moral 
discipline,  conscious  brotherhood,  and  subjection  to 
him  who  had  the  power  of  death.  His  glory  consisted 
in  the  effectiveness  of  the  propitiation,  in  leadership  of 
His  people,  in  consecration  of  His  brethren,  in  the 
destruction  of  the  devil. 

But  an  interesting  view  of  the  passage  has  been 
proposed  by  Hofmann,  and  accepted  by  at  least  one 
thoughtful  theologian  of  our  country.  They  consider 
that  the  Apostle  identifies  the  humiliation  and  the  glory. 
In  the  words  of  Dr.  Bruce,*  "  Christ's  whole  state  of 
exinanition  was  not  only  worthy  to  be  rewarded  by  a 
subsequent  state  of  exaltation,  but  was  in  itself  invested 
with  moral  sublimity  and  dignity."  The  idea  has  con- 
siderable fascination.  We  cannot  set  it  aside  by 
saying  that  it  is  modern,  seeing  that  the  Apostle  himself 

*  Humiliation  of  Christ,  p.  46. 


ii.  5-18.]  THE  SON  AND    THE  ANGELS,  45 

speaks  of  the  office  of  high-priest  as  an  honour  and  a 
glory.*  Yet  we  are  compelled  to  reject  it  as  an 
explanation  of  the  passage.  The  Apostle  is  showing 
that  the  Psalmist's  statement  respecting  man  is  realised 
only  in  the  Man  Christ  Jesus.  The  difficulty  was  to 
connect  man's  low  estate  and  man's  glory  and  dominion. 
But  if  the  Apostle  means  that  voluntary  humiliation 
for  the  sake  of  others  is  the  glory,  some  men  besides 
Jesus  Christ  might  have  been  mentioned  in  whom  the 
words  of  the  Psalm  find  their  accomplishrnent.  The 
difference  between  Jesus  and  other  good  men  would 
only  be  a  difference  of  degree.  Such  a  conclusion 
would  very  seriously  weaken  the  force  of  the  Apostle's 
reasoning. 

In  bringing  his  most  skilful  and  original  argument 
to  a  close,  the  Apostle  recapitulates.  He  has  said  that 
the  world  to^  come, — the  world  of  conscience  and  of 
spirit, — has  been  put  in  subjection  to  man,  not  to 
angels,  and  that  this  implies  the  incarnation  of  the  Son 
of  God.  This  thought  the  Apostle  repeats  in  another, 
but  very  striking,  form  :  "  For  verily  He  taketh  not 
hold  of  angels,  but  He  taketh  hold  of  the  seed  of 
Abraham."  Though  the  old  versions  were  incorrect  in 
so  rendering  the  words  as  to  make  them  express  the 
fact  of  the  Incarnation,  the  verse  is  a  reference  to  the 

*  Chap.  V.  4,  5. 


46  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS. 

Incarnation,  described,  however,  as  Christ's  strong 
grasp  *  of  man.  By  becoming  man  He  takes  hold  of 
humanity,  as  with  a  mighty  hand,  and  that  part  by 
which  He  grasps  humanity  is  the  seed  of  Abraham,  to 
whom  the  promise  was  made. 

Four  points  of  connection  between  the  glory  of 
Christ  and  His  humiliation  have  been  mentioned.  In 
his  recapitulation,  the  Apostle  sums  all  up  in  two. 
The  one  is  that  Christ  is  Priest ;  the  other  is  that  He 
succours  them  that  are  tempted.  His  propitiatory 
death  and  His  bringing  to  nought  the  power  of  Satan 
are  included  in  the  notion  of  priesthood.  The  moral 
discipline  that  made  Him  our  Leader  and  the  sense  of 
brotherhood  that  made  Him  Sanctifier  render  Him  able 
to  succour  the  tempted.  Even  this  also,  as  will  be 
fully  shown  by  the  Apostle  in  a  subsequent  chapter,  is 
contained  in  His  priesthood.  For  He  only  can  make 
propitiation.  Whose  heart  is  full  of  tender  pity  and 
steeled  only  against  pity  for  Himself  by  reason  of  His 
dauntless  fidelity  to  others. 

Thus  is  the  Son  better  than  the  angels. 

*  iTriXafipdverai  (ii.  1 6). 


FUNDAMENTAL  ONENESS  OF   THE   DISPENSATIONS, 


Hebrews  iii.  i — iv.  13  (R.V.). 

**  Wherefore,  holy  brethren,  partakers  of  a  heavenly  calling,  con- 
sider the  Apostle  and  High-priest  of  our  confession,  even  Jesus  ;  who 
was  faithful  to  Him  that  appointed  Him,  as  also  was  Moses  in  all  his 
house.  For  He  hath  been  counted  worthy  of  more  glory  than  Moses, 
by  so  much  as  he  that  built  the  house  hath  more  honour  than  the 
house.  For  every  house  is  builded  by  some  one  ;  but  He  that  built  all 
things  is  God.  And  Moses  indeed  was  faithful  in  all  his  house  as  a 
servant,  for  a  testimony  of  those  things  which  were  afterward  to  be 
spoken  ;  but  Christ  as  a  Son,  over  His  house  ;  Whose  house  are  we,  if 
we  hold  fast  our  boldness  and  the  glorying  of  our  hope  firm  unto  the 
end.     Wherefore,  even  as  the  Holy  Ghost  saith, 

To-day  if  ye  shall  hear  His  voice. 
Harden  not  your  hearts,  as  in  the  provocation, 
Like  as  in  the  day  of  the  temptation  in  the  wilderness, 
Wherewith  your  fathers  tempted  Me  by  proving  Me^ 
And  saw  My  works  forty  years- 
Wherefore  I  was  displeased  with  this  generation, 
And  said.  They  do  alway  err  in  their  heart ; 
But  they  did  not  know  My  ways  ; 
As  1  svvare  in  My  wrath, 
They  shall  not  enter  into  My  rest. 

Take  heed,  brethren,  lest  haply  there  shall  be  in  any  one  of  you  an  evil 
heart  of  unbelief,  in  falling  away  from  the  living  God  :  but  exhort  one 
another  day  by  day,  so  long  as  it  is  called  to-day ;  lest  any  one  of  you 
be  hardened  by  the  deceitfulness  of  sin  :  for  we  are  become  partakers 
of  Christ,  if  we  hold  fast  the  beginning  of  our  confidence  firm  unto  the 
end  :  while  it  is  said. 

To-day  if  ye  shall  hear  His  voice, 

Harden  not  your  hearts,  as  in  the  provocation. 

For  who,  when  they  heard,  did  provoke  ?  nay,  did  not  all  they  that 

4 


came  out  of  Egypt  by  Moses?  And  with  whom  was  He  displeased 
forty  years  ?  was  it  not  with  them  that  sinned,  whose  carcases  fell  in 
the  wilderness  ?  And  to  whom  sware  He  that  they  should  not  enter 
into  His  rest,  but  to  them  that  were  disobedient  ?  And  we  see  that 
they  were  not  able  to  enter  in  because  of  unbelief. 

Let  us  fear  therefore,  lest  haply,  a  promise  being  left  of  entering  into 
His  rest,  any  one  of  you  should  seem  to  have  come  short  of  it.  For 
indeed  we  have  had  good  tidings  preached  unto  us,  even  as  also  they : 
but  the  word  of  hearing  did  not  profit  them,  because  they  were  not 
united  by  faith  with  them  that  heard.  For  we  which  have  believed  do 
enter  into  that  rest ;  even  as  He  hath  said, 

As  I  sware  in  My  wrath, 

They  shall  not  enter  into  My  rest : 
although  the  works  were  finished  from  the  foundation  of  the  world. 
For  He  hath  said  somewhere  of  the  seventh  day  on  this  wise,  And  God 
rested  on  the  seventh  day  from  all  His  works  ;  and  in  this  place  again. 

They  shall  not  enter  into  My  rest. 
Seeing  therefore  it  remaineth  that  some  should  enter  thereinto,  and 
they  to  whom  the  good  tidings  were  before  preached  failed  to  enter  in 
because  of  disobedience.   He  again  defineth  a  certain  day,  saying  in 
David,  after  so  long  a  time,  To-day,  as  it  hath  been  before  said, 

To-day  if  ye  shall  hear  His  voice, 

Harden  not  your  hearts. 
For  if  Joshua  had  given  them  rest,  he  would  not  have  spoken  afterward 
of  another  day.  There  remaineth  therefore  a  sabbath  rest  for  the 
people  of  God.  For  he  that  is  entered  into  his  rest  ha^h  himself  also 
rested  from  his  works,  as  God  did  from  His.  Let  us  therefore  give 
diligence  to  enter  into  that  rest,  that  no  man  fall  after  the  same 
example  of  disobedience.  For  the  word  of  God  is  living,  and  active, 
and  sharper  than  any  two-edged  sword,  and  piercing  even  to  the 
dividing  of  soul  and  spirit,  of  both  joints  and  marrow,  and  quick  to 
discern  the  thoughts  and  intents  of  the  heart.  And  there  is  no  creature 
that  is  not  manifest  in  His  sight  :  but  all  things  are  naked  and  laid 
open  before  the  eyes  of  Him  with  Whom  we  have  to  do." 


CHAPTER    III. 

FUNDAMENTAL  ONENESS  OF    THE    DISPENSATIONS. 

'  I  ^HE  broad  foundation  of  Christianity  has  now 
"■-  been  laid  in  the  person  of  the  Son,  God-Man. 
In  the  subsequent  chapters  of  the  Epistle  this  doctrine 
is  made  to  throw  light  on  the  mutual  relations  of  the 
two  dispensations. 

The  first  deduction  is  that  the  Mosaic  dispensation 
was  itself  created  by  Christ;  that  the  threats  and 
promises  of  the  Old  Testament  live  on  into  the  New ; 
that  the  central  idea  of  the  Hebrew  religion,  the  idea 
of  the  Sabbath  rest,  is  realised  in  its  inmost  meaning 
in  Christ  only ;  that  the  word  of  God  is  ever  full  of 
living  energy.  Hereafter  the  Apostle  will  not  be  slow 
to  expose  the  wide  difference  between  the  two  dispen- 
sations. But  it  is  equally  true  and  not  less  important 
that  the  old  covenant  was  the  vesture  of  truths  which 
remain  when  the  garment  has  been  changed. 

At  the  outset  the  writer's  tone  is  influenced  by  this 
doctrine.  He  turns  his  treatise  unconsciously  into  an 
epistle.     He   addresses  his  readers  as  brethren,  holy 


52  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS. 

indeed,  but  not  hoi}/  after  the  pattern  of  their  former 
exclusiveness  ;  for  their  hoHness  is  inseparably  linkep  i. 
with  their  common  brotherhood.  They  are  partakers 
with  the  Gentile  Churches  in  a  heavenly  call.  Startling 
words !  Hebrews  holy  in  virtue  of  their  sharing 
with  Greeks  and  barbarians,  bond  and  free,  in  a 
common  call  from  high  Heaven,  which  sees  all  earth 
as  a  level  plain  beneath  !  The  middle  wall  of  partition 
has  been  broken  down  to  the  ground.  Yet  soothing 
words,  and  full  of  encouragement !  The  Apostle  and 
his  readers  were  standing  near  the  end  of  the  Apostolic 
age,  when  the  Hebrew  Christians  were  despondent, 
weak,  and  despised,  both  by  reason  of  national 
calamities  and  because  of  their  inferiority  to  their 
sister  Churches  among  the  Gentiles.  The  Apostle  does 
not  bluntly  assure  them  of  their  equality,  but  gently 
addresses  them  as  partakers  of  a  heavenly  call.  His 
words  are  the  reverse  of  St.  Paul's  language  to  the 
Ephesians,  who  are  reminded  that  the  Gentiles  are 
partakers  in  the  privileges  of  Israel.  Those  who  some- 
time were  far  off  have  been  made  nigh ;  the  strangers 
and  sojourners  are  henceforth  fellow-citizens  with  the 
saints  and  of  the  household  of  God.  Here,  on  the 
contrary,  Hebrew  Christians  are  encouraged  with  the 
assurance  that  they  partake  in  the  privileges  of  all 
believers.  If  the  wild  olive  tree  has  been  grafted  in 
among  the    branches  and  made  partaker  of  the  root, 


iii.  i-iv.  13.]       ONENESS  OF  THE  DISPENSATiO.VS.  53 

the  branches,  broken  off  that  the  wild  oUve  might  be 
grafted  in,  are  themselves  in  consequence  grafted  into 
their  own  olive  tree.  Through  God's  mercy  to  the 
Gentiles,  Israel  also  has  obtained  mercy. 

The  Apostle  addresses  them  with  affection.  But 
his  behest  is  sharp  and  urgent  :  "  Consider  the  Apostle 
and  High-priest  of  our  profession,  Jesus."  Consider 
intently,  or,  to  borrow  a  modern  word  that  has  some- 
times been  abused,  Realise  Jesus.  Dwell  not  with 
abstractions  and  theories.  Fear  not  imaginary  dangers. 
Make  Jesus  Christ  a  reality  before  the  eyes  of  your 
mind.  To  do  this  well  will  be  more  convincing  than 
external  evidences.  To  behold  the  glory  of  the  temple, 
linger  not  to  admire  the  strong  buttresses  without,  but 
enter.  Realisation  of  Christ  may  be  said  to  be  the 
gist  of  the  whole  Epistle. 

This  spiritual  vision  is  not  ecstasy.  We  realise 
Christ  as  Apostle  and  as  High-priest.  We  behold 
Him  when  His  words  are  a  message  to  us  from  God, 
and  when  He  carries  our  supplications  to  God.  Revela- 
tion and  prayer  are  the  two  opposite  poles  of  com- 
munion with  the  Father.  The  dispensation  of  Moses 
rested  on  these  two  pillars, — apostleship  and  priest- 
hood. But  the  fundamental  conceptions  of  the  Old 
Testament  centre  in  Jesus.  Though  our  author  has 
distinguished  between  God's  revelation  in  the  prophets 
and  His  revelation  in  a  Son,  he  teaches  also  that  even 


54  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS 

the  prophets  received  their  message  through,  the  Son. 
Though  he  contrasts  in  what  follows  of  the  Epistle  the 
high-priesthood  of  Aaron  with  Christ's,  still  he  regards 
Aaron's  office  as  utterly  meaningless  apart  from  Christ. 
The  words  "Apostle  and  High-priest"  pave  the  way, 
therefore,  to  the  most  prominent  truth  in  this  section 
of  the  Epistle  :  that  whatever  is  best  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment has  been  assimilated  and  inspired  with  new 
energy  by  the  Gospel. 

I.  To  begin,  we  must  understand  the  actual  position 
of  the  founders  of  the  two  dispensations.  Neither 
Moses  nor  Christ  set  about  originating,  designing,  con- 
structing, from  his  own  impulse  and  for  his  own 
purposes.  Both  acted  for  God,  and  were  consciously 
under  His  directing  eye.*  "  It  is  required  in  stewards 
that  a  man  be  found  faithful."  f  They  have  but  to 
obey,  and  leave  the  unity  and  harmony  of  the  plan  to 
another.  To  use  an  illustration,  every  house  is  built 
by  some  one  or  other.J  The  design  has  been  con- 
ceived in  the  brain  of  the  architect.  He  is  the  real 
builder,  though  he  employs  masons  and  joiners  to  put 
the  materials  together  according  to  his  plan.  This 
applies  to  the  subject  in  hand  ;  for  God  is  the 
Architect  of  all  things.  He  realises  His  own  ideas 
as  well  through  the  seeming  originality  of  thinkers  as 

*  Chap.  iii.  2.  f  i  Cor.  iv.  2.  X  Chap.  iii.  4. 


iii.  i-iv.  13.]      ONENESS  OF  THE  DISPENSATIONS.  55 

through  the  willing  obedience  of  workers.  Now,  the 
dispensation  of  the  old  covenant  was  one  part  of  God's 
design.  To  build  this  portion  of  the  house  He  found 
a  faithful  servant  in  Moses.  The  dispensation  of  the 
new  covenant  is  but  another,  though  more  excellent, 
part  of  the  same  design ;  and  Jesus  was  not  less  faith- 
ful to  finish  the  structure.  The  unity  of  the  design 
was  in  the  mind  of  God. 

Moses  was  faithful  when  he  refused  the  treasures  of 
Egypt,  and  chose  affliction  with  the  people  of  God 
and  the  reproach  of  His  Christ.  He  was  faithful  when 
he  chid  the  people  in  the  wilderness  for  their  unbe- 
lief, and  when  he  interceded  for  them  again  with  God. 
Christ  also  was  faithful  to  His  God  when  He  despised 
the  shame  and  endured  the  Cross. 

Yet  we  must  acknowledge  a  difference.  God  has 
accounted  Jesus  worthy  of  greater  honour  than  Moses, 
inasmuch  as  Moses  was  part  of  the  house,  and  that 
part  the  pre-existent  Christ  erected.  Moses  was 
^*  made  "  all  that  he  became  by  Christ,  but  Christ  was 
"  made  "  *  all  that  He  became — God-Man — by  God. 
Moreover,  though  Moses  was  greater  than  all  the  other 
servants  of  God  before  Christ,  because  they  were 
placed  in  subordinate  positions,  while  he  was  faithful 
in  the  whole   house,  yet   even  he  was  but  a  servant, 

*    TTOl-flCaVTU 


56  THE  EPISTLE   TO    THE  HEBREWS. 

whereas  Christ  was  Son.  Moses  was  in  the  house,  it 
is  true ;  but  the  Son  was  placed  over  the  house.  The 
work  which  Moses  had  to  do  was  to  uphold  the 
authority  of  the  Son,  to  witness,  that  is,  to  the  things 
which  would  afterwards  be  spoken  unto  us  by  God  in 
His  Son,  Jesus  Christ.* 

The  Apostle  seems  to  delight  in  his  illustration  of 
the  house,  and  continues  to  use  it  with  a  fresh  meaning. 
This  house,  or,  if  you  please,  this  household,  are  we 
Christians.  We  are  the  house  in  which  Moses  showed 
the  utmost  faithfulness  as  servant.  We  are  the  cir- 
cumcision, we  the  true  Israel  of  God.  If,  then,  we 
turn  away  from  Christ  to  Moses,  that  faithful  servant 
himself  will  have  none  of  us.  That  we  may  be  God's 
house,  we  must  lay  fast  hold  of  our  Christian  confidence 
and  the  boasting  of  our  hope  out-and-out  to  the  end. 

2.  Again,  the  threatenings  of  the  Old  Testament  for 
disobedience  to  God  apply  with  full  force  to  apostasy 
from  Christ.  They  are  the  authoritative  voice  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  The  Apostle  is  reminded  by  the  words 
which  he  has  just  used,  "  We  are  God's  house,"  of  the 
Psalmist's  joyful  exclamation,  "He  is  our  God,  and  we 
are  the  people  of  His  pasture,  and  the  sheep  of  His 
hand."  t  Then  follows  in  the  Psalm  a  warning,  which 
the  Apostle  considers  it  equally  necessary  to  address  to 

*  Chap.  iii.  5,  f  Ps.  xcv.  7,  sqq. 


iii.  l-iv.  13.]      ONENESS  OF  THE  DISPENSA  TIONS.  57 

the  Hebrew  Christians  :  "  To-day,  if  indeed  you  still 
hear  His  voice  (for  it  is  possible  He  may  no  longer 
speak),  harden  not  your  hearts,  as  you  did  in  Meribah, 
rightly  called, — the  place  of  contention.  Your  fathers, 
far  from  trusting  Me  when  I  put  them  to  the  test, 
turned  upon  Me  and  put  Me  to  the  test,  and  that 
although  they  saw  My  works  during  forty  years." 
Forty  years, — ominous  number  !  The  readers  would 
at  once  call  to  mind  that  forty  years  within  a  little  had 
now  passed  since  their  Lord  had  gone  through  the 
heavens  to  the  right  hand  of  the  Father.  What  if, 
after  all,  the  old  belief  proves  true  that  He  returns  to 
judgment  after  waiting  for  precisely  the  same  period 
for  which  He  had  patiently  endured  their  fathers' 
unbelief  in  the  wilderness  !  God  is  still  living,  and  He 
is  the  same  God.  He  Who  sware  in  His  wrath  that 
the  fathers  should  not  enter  into  the  rest  of  Canaan  is 
the  same  in  His  anger,  the  same  in  His  mercy.  Exhort 
one  another.  In  the  wilderness  God  dealt  with  in- 
dividuals. He  does  so  still.  See  that  there  be  no  evil 
heart,  which  is  unbelief,  in  any  one  of  you  at  any  time 
while  the  call,  '*  To-day ! "  is  sounded  in  your  ears. 
For  sin  weakens  the  sense  of  individual  guilt,  and  thus 
deceives  men  by  hardening  their  hearts.*  All  that 
came  out  of  Egypt  provoked  God  to  anger.     But  they 

*  Chap.  ii.  13. 


58  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS. 

provoked  Him,  not  in  the  mass,  but  one  by  one,  and 
one  by  one,  with  palsied  limbs, f  they  fell  in  the  wilder- 
ness, as  men  fall  exhausted  on  the  march.  Thus,  for 
their  persistent  unbelief,  God  sware  they  should  not 
enter  into  His  rest — "  His,"  for  He  kept  the  key  still 
in  His  own  hand.  But  persistent  unbelief  made  them 
incapable  of  entering.  If  God  were  still  willing  to  cut 
off  for  them  the  waters  of  Jordan,  they  could  not  * 
enter  in  because  of  unbelief. 

3.  Similarly,  the  promises  of  God  are  still  in  force. 
Indeed,  the  steadfastness  of  the  threatenings  involves 
the  continuance  of  the  promises,  and  the  rejection  of 
the  promises  ensures  the  fulfilment  of  every  threaten- 
ing. As  much  as  this  is  expressed  in  the  opening 
words  of  chap.  iv. :  "  A  promise  being  left  to  us,  let  us 
therefore  fear." 

To  prove  the  identity  of  the  promises  under  the  two 
dispensations,  the  Apostle  singles  out  one  promise, 
which  may  be  considered  most  significant  of  the 
national  no  less  than  the  religious  life  of  Israel.  The 
Greek  mind  was  ever  on  the  alert  for  something  new. 
Its  character  was  movement.  But  the  ideal  of  the  Old 
Testament  is  rest.  Christ  came  into  touch  w^ith  the 
people  at  once  when  He  began  His  public  ministry  with 
an    invitation  to  the  weary  and  heavy-laden    to  come 

*  ovK  i\hvvy\dy\(ja.v  (iii.  19),  f  rb.  KuXa.     Cf.  chap.  xii.  12. 


iii.  i-iv.  13.]      ONENESS  OF  THE  DISPENSATIONS.  59 

unto  Him,  and  with  the  promise  that  He  would  give 
them  rest.  Near  the  close  of  His  ministry  He  explained 
and  fulfilled  the  promise  by  gi\'ing  to  His  disciples 
peace.  The  object  of  our  author,  in  the  difficult 
chapter  now  under  consideration,  is  to  show  that  the 
idea  most  characteristic  of  the  old  covenant  finds  its 
true  and  highest  realisation  in  Christ.  After  the 
manner  of  St.  Paul,  who,  in  more  than  one  passage, 
teaches  that  through  the  fall  of  Israel  salvation  is  come 
unto  the  Gentiles,  the  writer  of  this  Epistle  also  argues 
that  the  promise  of  rest  still  remains,  because  it  was 
not  fulfilled  under  the  Old  Testament  in  consequence  of 
Israel's  unbelief.  The  word  of  promise  was  a  gospel  * 
to  them,  as  it  is  to  us.  But  it  did  not  profit  them, 
because  they  did  not  assimilate  f  the  promise  by  faith. 
Their  history  from  the  beginning  consists  of  continued 
renewals  of  the  promise  on  the  part  of  God  and 
persistent  rejections  on  the  part  of  Israel,  ending  in 
the  hardening  of  their  hearts.  Every  time  the  promise 
is  renewed,  it  is  presented  in  a  higher  and  more 
spiritual  form.  Every  rejection  inevitably  leads  to 
grosser  views  and  more  hopeless  unbelief.  So  entirely 
false  is  the  fable  of  the  Sibyl !  God  does  not  burn 
some  of  the  leaves  when  His  promises  have  been 
rejected,  and  come  back  with  fewer  offers  at  a  higher 

*  evriyy€\i,(Tixivot,  (iv.  2).  f  Reading  ervPKeKepaafiiuos. 


6o  THE  EPISTLE   TO    THE  HEBREWS, 

price.  His  method  is  to  offer  more  and  better  on  the 
same  conditions.  But  it  is  the  nature  of  unbelief  to 
cause  the  heart  to  wax  gross,  to  blind  the  spiritual 
vision,  until  in  the  end  the  rich,  spiritual  promises  of 
God  and  the  earthly,  dark  unbelief  of  the  sinner  stand 
in  extremest  contrast. 

At  first  the  promise  is  presented  in  the  negative  form 
of  rest  from  labour.  Even  the  Creator  condescended 
thus  to  rest.  But  what  such  rest  can  be  to  God  it 
were  vain  for  man  to  try  to  conceive.  We  know  that, 
as  soon  as  the  foundations  of  the  world  were  laid  and 
the  work  of  creation  was  ended,  God  ceased  from  this 
form  of  activity.  But  when  this  negative  rest  had  been 
attained,  it  was  far  from  realising  God's  idea  of  rest 
either  for  Himself  or  for  man.  For,  though  these 
works  of  God,  the  material  universe,  were  finished 
from  the  laying  of  the  world's  foundations  to  the 
crowning  of  the  edifice,*  God  still  speaks  of  another 
rest,  and  threatens  to  shut  some  men  out  for  their  un- 
belief. Our  Lord  told  the  Pharisees,  whose  notion  of 
the  Sabbath  was  the  negative  one,  that  He  desired  His 
Sabbath  rest  to  be  like  that  of  His  Father,  Who 
**worketh  hitherto."  The  Jewish  Sabbath,  it  appears, 
therefore,  is  the  most  crude  and  elementary  form  of 
God's  promised  rest. 

*  Chap.  iv.  3. 


iii.  i-iv.  13.]      ONENESS  OF  THE  DISPENSATIONS.  61 

The  promise  is  next  presented  as  the  rest  of  Canaan.* 
This  is  a  stage  in  advance  in  the  development  of  the 
idea.  It  is  not  mere  abstention  from  secular  labour, 
and  the  consecration  of  inactivity.  The  rest  now  con- 
sists in  the  enjoyment  of  material  prosperity,  the  proud 
consciousness  of  national  power,  the  growth  of  a 
peculiar  civilization,  the  rise  of  great  men  and  eminent 
saints,  and  all  this  won  by  Israel  under  the  leadership 
of  their  Jesus,  who  was  in  this  respect  a  type  of  ours. 
But  even  in  this  second  garden  of  Eden  Israel  did  not 
attain  unto  God's  rest.  Worldliness  became  their 
snare. 

But  God  still  called  to  them  by  the  mouth  of  the 
Psalmist,  long  after  they  had  entered  on  the  possession 
of  Canaan.  This  only  proves  that  the  true  rest  was  still 
unattained,  and  God's  promise  not  yet  fulfilled.  The 
form  which  the  rest  of  God  now  assumed  is  not  ex- 
pressly stated  in  our  passage.  But  we  have  not  far 
to  go  in  search  of  it.  The  first  Psalm,  which  is  the 
introduction  to  all  the  Psalms,  declares  the  blessedness 
of  contemplation.  The  Sabbath  is  seldom  mentioned 
by  the  Psalmist.  Its  place  is  taken  by  the  sanctuary, 
in  which  rest  of  soul  is  found  in  meditating  on  God's 
law  and  beholding  the  Lord's  beauty,  t  The  call  is  at 
last  urgent.     "  To-day  ! "     It  is  the  last  invitation.     It 


*  Chap.  iv.  8.  t  Ps.  xxvii.  4. 


62  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS, 

lingers  in  the  ears  in  ever  fainter  voice  of  prophet 
after  prophet,  until  the  prophet's  face  turns  towards 
the  east  to  announce  the  break  of  dawn  and  the  coming 
of  the  perfect  rest  in  Jesus  Christ.  God's  promise 
was  never  fulfilled  to  Israel,  because  of  their  unbehef. 
But  shall  their  unbelief  make  the  faithfulness  of  God 
of  none  effect  ?  God  forbid.  The  gifts  and  calling  of 
God  are  without  repentance.  The  promise  that  has 
failed  of  fulfilment  in  the  lower  form  must  find  its 
accomplishment  in  the  higher.  Even  a  prayer  is  the 
more  heard  for  every  delay.  God's  mill  grinds  slowly, 
but  for  that  reason  grinds  small.  What  is  the  in- 
ference ?  Surely  it  is  that  the  Sabbath  rest  still 
remains  for  the  true  people  of  God.  This  Sabbath 
rest  St.  Paul  prayed  that  the  true  Israel,  who  glory, 
not  in  their  circumcision,  but  in  the  Cross  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  might  receive :  "  Peace  be  upon  them, 
and  mercy,  and  upon  the  Israel  of  God."* 

The  faithfulness  of  God  to  fulfil  His  promise  in  its 
higher  form  is  proved  by  His  having  accomplished  it 
in  its  more  elementary  forms  to  every  one  that  be- 
lieved. "  For  he  that  entered  into  God's  rest  did 
actually  rest  from  his  works  "  f — that  is  to  say,  received 
the  blessings  of  the  Sabbath — as  truly  as  God  rested 
from   the  work   of  creation.     The  Apostle's   practical 

*  GaL  vi.  i6.  t  Chap.  iv.  lo. 


iii.  i-iv.  13.]      ONENESS  OF  THE  DISPENSATIONS.  63 

inference  is  couched  in  language  almost  paradoxical : 
"  Let  us  strive  to  enter  into  God's  rest " — not  indeed 
into  the  rest  of  the  Old  Testament,  but  into  the  better 
rest  which  God  now  offers  in  His  Son. 

The  oneness  of  the  dispensations  has  been  proved. 
They  are  one  in  their  design,  in  their  threatenings,  in 
their  promises.  If  we  seek  the  fundamental  ground  of 
this  threefold  unity,  we  shall  find  it  in  the  fact  that 
both  dispensations  are  parts  of  a  Divine  revelation. 
God  has  spoken,  and  the  word  of  God  does  not  pass 
away.  "  Think  not,"  said  our  Lord,  ''  that  I  came  to 
destroy  the  Law  or  the  prophets  ;  I  came  not  to  destroy, 
but  to  fulfil.  For  verily  I  say  unto  you,  Till  heaven 
and  earth  pass  away,  one  jot  or  one  tittle  shall  in  no 
wise  pass  away  from  the  Law  till  all  things  be  accom- 
plished." *  On  another  occasion  He  says,  ''  Heaven 
and  earth  shall  pass  away,  but  My  words  shall  not  pass 
away."  f  These  passages  teach  us  that  the  words  of 
God  through  Moses  and  in  the  Son  are  equally  im- 
mutable. Many  features  of  the  old  covenant  may  be 
transient ;  but,  if  it  is  a  word  of  God,  it  abides  in  its 
essential  nature  through  all  changes.  For  "the  word 
of  God  is  living,"  %  because  He  Who  speaks  the  word 
is  the  living  God.     It  acts  with  mighty  energy, §  like 

*  Matt.  V.  17,  18.  X  Chap.  iv.  12 

t  Matt,  xxiv,  35.  §  ivepy-qs. 


64  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS. 

the  silent  laws  of  nature,  which  destroy  or  save  alive 
according  as  men  obey  or  disobey  them.  It  cuts  like 
a  sword  whetted  on  each  side  of  the  blade,  piercing 
through  to  the  place  where  the  natural  life  of  the  soul 
divides  *  from,  or  passes  into,  the  supernatural  life  of 
the  spirit.  For  it  is  revelation  that  has  made  known 
to  man  his  possession  of  the  spiritual  faculty.  The 
word  '^  spirit "  is  used  by  heathen  writers.  But  in 
their  books  it  means  only  the  air  we  breathe.  The 
very  conception  of  the  spiritual  is  enshrined  in  the 
bosom  of  God's  word.  Revelation  has  separated 
between  the  life  of  heathenism  and  the  life  of  the 
Church,  between  the  natural  man  and  the  spiritual, 
between  the  darkness  that  comprehended  it  not  and  the 
children  of  the  light  who  received  it  and  thus  became 
children  of  God.  Further,  the  word  of  God  pierces  to 
the  joints  that  connect  the  natural  and  the  super- 
natural.! It  does  not  ignore  the  former.  On  the 
contrary,  it  addresses  itself  to  man's  reason  and  con- 
science, in  order  to  erect  the  supernatural  upon  nature. 
Where  reason  stops  short,  the  word  of  God  appeals  to 
the  supernatural  faculty  of  faith  ;  and  when  conscience 
grows  blunt,  the  word  makes  conscience,  like  itself, 
sharper  than  any  two-edged  sword.  Once  more,  the 
word   of  God  pierces  to  the  marrow.J     It  reveals  to 


iii.  i-iv.  13-]      ONENESS  OF  THE  DISPENSATIONS.  65 

man  the  innermost  meaning  of  his  own  nature  and  of 
the  supernatural  planted  within  him.  The  truest 
morality  and  the  highest  spirituality  are  both  the  direct 
product  of  God's  revelation. 

But  all  this  is  true  in  its  practical  application  to 
every  man  individually.  The  power  of  the  word  ot 
God  to  create  distinct  dispensations  and  yet  maintain 
their  fundamental  unity,  to  distinguish  between  masses 
of  men  and  yet  cause  all  the  separate  threads  of  human 
history  to  converge  and  at  last  meet,  is  the  same  power 
which  judges  the  inmost  thoughts  and  inmost  purposes 
of  the  heart.  These  it  surveys  with  critical  judgment.* 
If  Its  eye  is  keen,  its  range  of  vision  is  also  wide. 
No  created  thing  but  is  seen  and  manifest.  The  sur- 
face is  bared,  and  the  depth  within  is  opened  up  before 
it.  As  the  upturned  neck  of  the  sacrificial  beast  lay 
bare  to  the  eye  of  God,t  so  are  we  exposed  to  the  eye 
of  Him  to  Whom  we  have  to  give  our  account.! 

*  KpiTiKos,  f  T€Tp9,x'r)^i'<rfji'^ya  (iv,  1 3),  J  6  Xdjos, 


THE  GREAT  HIGH-PRIRST. 


"  Having  then  a  great  High-priest,  Who  hath  passed  through  the 
heavens,  Jesus  the  Son  of  God,  let  us  hold  fast  our  confession.  For  we 
have  not  a  high-priest  that  cannot  be  touched  with  the  feeling  of  our 
infirmities  ;  but  One  that  hath  been  in  all  points  tempted  like  as  we  are 
yet  without  sin.  Let  us  therefore  draw  near  with  boldness  unto  the 
throne  of  grace,  that  we  may  receive  mercy,  and  may  find  grace  to  help 
us  in  time  of  need.  For  every  high-priest,  being  taken  from  among 
men,  is  appointed  for  men  in  things  pertaining  to  God,  that  he  may 
offer  both  gifts  and  sacrifices  for  sins :  who  can  bear  gently  with  the 
ignorant  and  erring,  for  that  he  himself  also  is  compassed  with  infirmity  ; 
and  by  reason  thereof  is  bound,  as  for  the  people,  so  also  for  himself, 
to  offer  for  sins.  And  no  man  taketh  the  honour  unto  himself,  but 
when  he  is  called  of  God,  even  as  was  Aaron.  So  Christ  also  glorified 
not  Himself  to  be  made  a  High-priest,  but  He  that  spake  unto  Him, 

Thou  art  My  Son, 

This  day  have  I  begotten  Thee  : 

as  He  saith  also  in  another  place, 

Thou  art  a  Priest  for  ever 
After  the  order  of  Melchizedek. 

Who  in  the  days  of  His  flesh,  having  offered  up  prayers  and  supplica- 
tions with  strong  crying  and  tears  unto  Him  that  was  able  to  save  Him 
from  death,  and  having  been  heard  for  His  godly  fear,  though  He  was  a 
Son,  yet  learned  obedience  by  the  things  which  He  suffered ;  and  having 
been  made  perfect.  He  became  unto  all  them  that  obey  Him  the 
Author  of  eternal  salvation  ;  named  of  God  a  High-priest  after  the 
order  of  Melchizedek." — Heb.  iv.  14 — v.  10  (R.V.). 


CHAPTER   IV. 

THE   GREAT  HIGH-PRIEST. 

'THHE  results  already  gained  are  such  as  these  :  that 
-*-  the  Son,  through  Whom  God  has  spoken  unto 
us,  is  a  greater  Person  than  the  angels  ;  that  Jesus, 
Whom  the  Apostle  and  the  Hebrew  Christians  acknow- 
ledge to  be  Son  of  God,  is  the  representative  Man, 
endowed,  as  such,  with  kingly  authority ;  that  the  Son 
of  God  became  man  in  order  that  He  might  be  consti- 
tuted High-priest  to  make  reconciliation  for  sin ;  and, 
finally,  that  all  the  purposes  of  God  revealed  in  the 
Old  Testament,  though  they  have  hitherto  been  accom- 
plished but  partially,  will  not  fall  to  the  ground,  and 
will  remain  in  higher  forms  under  the  Gospel. 

The  writer  gathers  these  threads  to  a  head  in  chap, 
iv.  14.     The  high-priest  still  remains.     If  we  have  the 
high-priest,  we  have  all  that  is  of  lasting  worth  in  the ; 
old  covenant.    For  the  idea  of  the  covenant  is  reconcilia-| 
tion  with  God,  and  this  is  embodied  and  symbolised  in 
the  high-priest,   inasmuch  as  he  alone   entered  within  i 
the  veil  on  the  day  of  atonement.     Having  the  high- 


70  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS, 

priest  in  a  greater  Person,  we  have  all  the  blessings  of 
the  covenant  restored  to  us  in  a  better  form.  The 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  is  intended  to  encourage  and 
comfort  men  who  have  lost  their  all.  Judaism  was  in 
its  death-throes.  National  independence  had  already 
ceased.  When  the  Apostle  was  writing,  the  eagles 
were  gathering  around  the  carcase.  But  when  all  is 
lost,  all  is  regained  if  we  "  have  "  the  High-priest. 

The  secret  of  His  abiding  for  ever  is  His  own  great- 
ness. He  is  agreal  High-priest;  for  He  has  entered  into 
the  immediate  presence  of  God,  not  through  the  Temple 
veil,  but  through  the  very  heavens.  In  chap.  viii.  i 
the  Apostle  declares  this  to  be  the  head  and  front  of  all 
he  has  said  :  "  We  have  such  an  High-priest "  as  He 
must  be  "  Who  is  set  on  the  right  hand  of  the  throne 
of  the  Majesty  in  the  heavens."  He  is  a  great  High- 
priest  because  He  is  a  Priest  on  a  throne.  As  the 
representative  Man,  Jesus  is  crowned.  His  glory  is 
kingly.  But  the  glory  bestowed  on  the  Man  as  King 
has  brought  Him  into  the  audience-chamber  of  God 
as  High-priest.  The  kingship  of  Jesus,  to  Whom  all 
creation  is  subjected,  and  Who  sits  above  all  creation, 
has  made  His  priestly  service  effectual.  His  exaltation 
is  much  more  than  a  reward  for  His  redemptive  suffer- 
ings. He  entered  the  heaven  of  God  as  the  sanctuary 
of  which  He  is  Minister.  For  if  He  were  on  earth.  He 
would  not  be  a  Priest  at  all,  seeing  that  He  is  not  of 


iv,i4-v.  10.]  THE   GREAT  HIGH-PRIEST,  71 

the  order  of  Aaron,  to  which  the  earthly  priesthood 
belongs  according  to  the  Law.*  But  Christ  is  not 
entered  into  the  holy  place  made  with  hands,  but  into 
the  very  heaven,  now  to  be  manifested  before  the  face 
of  God  for  us.t  The  Apostle  has  said  that  Christ  is 
Son  over  the  house  of  God.  He  is  also  High-priest 
over  the  house  of  God,  having  authority  over  it 
in  virtue  of  His  priesthood  for  it,  and  administering 
His  priestly  functions  effectually  through  His  king- 
ship4 

The  entire  structure  of  the  Apostle's  inferences  rests 
on  the  twofold  argument  of  the  first  two  chapters. 
Jesus  Christ  is  a  great  High-priest ;  that  is.  King  and 
High-priest  in  one,  because  He  unites  in  His  own 
person  Son  of  God  and  Son  of  man. 

One  is  tempted  to  find  an  intentional  antithesis 
between  the  awe-inspiring  description  of  the  word  of 
God  in  the  previous  verse  and  the  tender  language  of 
the  verse  that  follows.  Is  the  word  a  living,  ener- 
gising power  ?  The  High-priest  too  is  living  and 
powerful,  great  and  dwelling  above  the  heavens.  Does 
the  word  pierce  to  our  innermost  being  ?  The  High- 
priest  sympathises  with  our  weaknesses,  or,  in  the  beau- 
tiful paraphrase  of  the  English  Version,  "  is  touched 
with  a  feeling   of  our   infirmities."      Does   the   word 

*  Chap.  viii.  4.  -j:  Chap.  ix.  24  %  Cf.  chap.  x.  21. 


72  THE  EPISTLE   TO    THE  HEBREWS. 

judge  ?  The  High-priest  can  be  equitable,  inasmuch 
as  He  has  been  tempted  like  as  we  are  tempted,  and 
that  without  sin.* 

On  the  last-mentioned  point  much  might  be  said. 
He  was  tempted  to  sin,  but  withstood  the  temptation. 
He  had  true  and  complete  humanity,  and  human 
nature,  as  such  and  alone,  is  capable  of  sin.  Shall  we, 
therefore,  admit  that  Jesus  was  capable  of  sin  ?  But 
He  was  Son  of  God.  Christ  was  Man,  but  not  a 
human  Person.  He  was  a  Divine  Person,  and  there- 
fore absolutely  and  eternally  incapable  of  sin  ;  for  sin 
is  the  act  and  property  of  a  person,  not  of  a  mere 
nature  apart  from  the  persons  who  have  that  nature. 
Having  assumed  humanity,  the  Divine  person  of  the 
Son  of  God  was  truly  tempted,  Hke  as  we  are.  He  felt 
the  power  of  the  temptation,  which  appealed  in  every 
case,  not  to  a  sinful  lust,  but  to  a  sinless  want  and 
natural  desire.  But  to  have  yielded  to  Satan  and 
satisfied  a  sinless  appetite  at  his  suggestion  would 
have  been  a  sin.  It  would  argue  want  of  faith  in  God. 
Moreover,  He  strove  against  the  tempter  with  the 
weapons  of  prayer  and  the  word  of  God.  He  con- 
quered by  His  faith.  Far  from  lessening  the  force  of 
the  trial.  His  being  Son  of  God  rendered  His  humanity 
capable  of  being  tempted   to  the  very  utmost  limit  of 

*  Chap.  iv.  15.    . 


IV.  I4-V.  10.]  THE   GREAT  HIGH-PRIEST.  73 

all  temptation.  We  dare  not  say  that  mere  man  would 
certainly  have  yielded  to  the  sore  trials  that  beset  Jesus. 
But  we  do  say  that  mere  man  would  never  have  felt 
the  temptation  so  keenly.  Neither  did  His  Divine 
greatness  lessen  His  sympathy.  Holy  men  have  a 
wellspring  of  pity  in  their  hearts,  to  which  ordinary 
men  are  total  strangers.  The  infinitely  holy  Son  of 
God  had  infinite  pity.  These  are  the  sources  of  His 
power  to  succour  the  tempted, — the  reality  of  His 
temptations  as  He  was  Son  of  man,  the  intensity  of 
them  as  He  was  Son  of  God,  and  the  compassion  of 
One  Who  was  both  Son  of  God  and  Son  of  man. 

Our  author  is  wont  to  break  off  suddenly  and  inter- 
sperse his  arguments  with  affectionate  words  of  exhor- 
tation. He  does  so  here.  It  is  still  the  same  urgent 
command  :  Do  not  let  go  the  anchor.  Hold  fast  your 
profession  of  Christ  as  Son  of  God  and  Son  of  man, 
as  Priest  and  King.  Let  us  draw  nearer,  and  that 
boldly,  unto  this  great  High-priest,  Who  is  enthroned 
on  the  mercy-seat,  that  we  may  obtain  the  pity  which, 
in  our  sense  of  utter  helplessness,  we  seek,  and  find 
more  than  we  seek  or  hope  for,  even  His  grace  to  help 
us.  Only  linger  not  till  it  be  too  late.  His  aid  must 
be  sought  in  time.*     "  To-day  "  is  still  the  call. 

Pity  and    helping  grace,  sympathy  and  authority — 


•  eijKaipov  (iv.  16}. 


J4  THE  EPISTLE    TO    THE  HEBREWS. 

in  these  two  excellences  all  the  qualifications  of  a 
high-priest  are  comprised.  It  was  so  under  the  old 
covenant.  Every  high-priest  was  taken  from  among 
men  that  he  might  sympathise,  and  was  appointed  by 
God  that  he  might  have  authority  to  act  on  behalf 
of  men. 

I.  The  high-priest  under  the  Law  is  himself  beset 
by  the  infirmities  of  sinful  human  nature,  the  in- 
firmities at  least  for  which  alone  the  Law  provides 
a  sacrifice,  sins  of  ignorance  and  inadvertence. "^ 
Thus  only  can  he  form  a  fair  and  equitable  judg- 
ment t  when  men  go  astray.  The  thought  wears  the 
appearance  of  novelty.  No  use  is  apparently  made  of 
it  in  the  Old  Testament.  The  notion  of  the  high- 
priest's  Divine  appointment  overshadowed  that  of  his 
human  sympathy.  His  sinfulness  is  acknowledged, 
and  Aaron  is  commanded  to  offer  sacrifice  for  himself 
and  for  the  sins  of  the  people.^  But  the  author  of 
this  Epistle  states  the  reason  why  a  sinful  man  v/as 
made  high-priest.  He  has  told  us  that  the  Law  was 
given  through  angels.  But  no  angel  interposed  as 
high-priest  between  the  sinner  and  God.  Sympathy 
would  be  wanting  to  the  angel.  But  the  very  infirmity 
that  gave  the  high-priest  his  power  of  sympathy  made 
sacrifice    necessary  for  the    high-priest  himself.     This 


*  Chap.  V.  I,  3,  f  ixeTpioira.Oelv.  %  Lev.  xvi.  6. 


iv.i4-v.  10.]  THE   GREAT  HIGH-PRIEST.  75 

was  the  fatal  defect.  How  can  he  bestow  forgiveness 
who  must  seek  the  Hke  forgiveness  ? 

In  the  case  of  the  great  High-priest,  Jesus  the  Son 
of  God,  the  end  must  be  sought  in  another  way.  He  is 
not  so  taken  from  the  stock  of  humanity  as  to  be  stained 
with  sin.  He  is  not  one  of  many  men,  any  one  of  whom 
might  have  been  chosen.  On  the  contrary,  He  is  holy, 
innocent,  stainless,  separated  in  character  and  position 
before  God  from  the  sinners  around  Him.*  He  has 
no  need  to  offer  sacrifice  for  any  sin  of  His  own,  but 
only  for  the  sins  of  the  people  ;  and  this  He  did  once 
for  all  when  He  offered  up  Himself.  For  the  Law 
makes  mere  men,  beset  with  sinful  infirmity,  priests  ; 
but  the  word  of  the  oath  makes  the  Son  Priest,  Who 
has  been  perfected  for  His  office  for  ever.f  In  this 
respect  He  bears  no  resemblance  to  Aaron.  Yet  God 
did  not  leave  His  people  without  a  type  of  Jesus  in 
this  complete  separateness.  The  Psalmist  speaks  of 
Him  as  a  Priest  after  the  order  of  Melchizedek,  and 
concerning  Christ  as  the  Melchizedek  Priest  the  Apostle 
has  more  to  say  hereafter.  | 

The  question  returns.  How,  then,  can  the  Son  of 
God  sympathise  with  sinful  man  ?  He  can  sympathise 
with  our  sinless  infirmities  because  He  is  true  Man. 
But  that  He,  the  sinless  One,  may  be  able  to  sympa- 

♦  Chap.  vii.  26.  f  Chap.  vii.  28.  |  Chap.  v.  10,  ii. 


76  THE  EPISTLE   TO    THE  HEBREWS. 

thise  with  sinful  infirmities,  He  must  be  made  sin 
for  us  and  face  death  as  a  sin-offering.  The  High- 
priest  Himself  becomes  the  sacrifice  which  He  offers. 
Special  trials  beset  Him.  His  Hfe  on  earth  is  pre- 
eminently "  days  of  the  flesh/'  *  so  despised  is  He, 
a  very  Man  of  sorrows.  When  He  could  not 
acquire  the  power  of  sympathy  by  offering  atonement 
for  Himself,  because  He  needed  it  not,  He  offered 
prayers  and  supplications  with  a  strong  cry  and 
tears  to  Him  Who  was  able  to  save  Him  out  of 
death.  But  why  the  strong  cries  and  bitter  weeping  ? 
Can  we  suppose  for  a  moment  that  He  was  only  afraid 
of  physical  pain  ?  Or  did  He  dread  the  shame  of  the 
Cross?  Our  author  elsewhere  says  that  He  despised  it. 
Shall  we  say  that  Jesus  Christ  had  less  moral  courage 
than  Socrates  or  His  own  martyr-servant,  St.  Ignatius  ? 
At  the  same  time,  let  us  confine  ourselves  strictly  to 
the  words  of  Scripture,  lest  by  any  gloss  of  our  own 
we  ascribe  to  Christ's  death  what  is  required  by  the 
exigencies  of  a  ready-made  theory.  "  Being  in  an 
agony,  He  prayed  more  earnestly;  and  His  sweat 
became  as  it  were  great  drops  of  blood  falling  down 
upon  the  ground."  f  Is  this  the  attitude  of  a  martyr  ? 
The   Apostle  himself  explains  it.     ''Though  He    was 


*  Chap.  V.  7. 

t  Luke  xxii.  44.     The  genuineness  of  the  verse  is  not  quite  certain. 


iv.i4-v.  10.]  THE   GREAT  HIGH-PRIEST,  77 

a  Son/'  to  Whom  obedience  to  His  Father's  command 
that  He  should  lay  down  His  life  was  natural  and 
joyful,  yet  He  learned  His  obedience,  special  and 
peculiar  as  it  was,  by  the  things  which  He  suffered.* 
He  was  perfecting  Himself  to  be  our  High-priest.  By 
these  acts  of  priestly  offering  He  was  rendering  Him- 
self fit  to  be  the  sacrifice  offered.  Because  there  was 
in  His  prayers  and  supplications,  in  His  crying  and 
weeping,  this  element  of  entire  self-surrender  to  His 
Father's  will,  which  is  the  truest  piety, f  His  prayers 
were  heard.  He  prayed  to  be  delivered  out  of  His 
death.  He  prayed  for  the  glory  which  He  had  with 
His  Father  before  the  world  was.  At  the  same  time 
He  piously  resigned  Himself  to  die  as  a  sacrifice,  and 
left  it  to  God  to  decide  whether  He  would  raise  Him 
from  death  or  leave  His  soul  in  Hades.  Because  of 
this  perfect  self-abnegation,  His  sacrifice  was  complete ; 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  because  of  the  same  entire 
self-denial,  God  did  deliver  Him  out  of  death  and  made 
Him  an  eternal  Priest.  His  prayers  were  not  only 
heard,  but  became  the  foundation  and  beginning  of  His 
priestly  intercession  on  behalf  of  others. 

2.  The  second  essential  qualification  of  a  high- 
priest  was  authority  to  act  for  men  in  things  pertaining 
to   God,    and   in    His    name    to   absolve   the  penitent 

*  Cf.  John  X.  18.  f  dTTo  TTjs  €v\a/3eias  (v.  7). 


78  THE  EPISTLE    TO   THE  HEBREWS. 

sinner.  Prayer  was  free  to  all  God's  people  and  even 
to  the  stranger  that  came  out  of  a  far  country  for  the 
sake  of  the  God  of  Israel's  name.  But  guilt,  by  its 
very  nature,  involves  the  need,  not  merely  of  reconcil- 
ing the  sinner^  but  primarily  of  reconciling  God.  Hence 
the  necessity  of  a  Divine  appointment.  For  how  can 
man  bring  his  sacrifice  to  God  or  know  that  God  has 
accepted  it  unless  God  Himself  appoints  the  mediator 
and  through  him  pronounces  the  sinner  absolved  ? 
It  is  true,  if  man  only  is  to  be  reconciled,  a  Divinely 
appointed  prophet  will  be  enough,  who  will  declare 
God's  fatherly  love  and  so  remove  the  sinner's  unbelief 
and  slay  his  enmity.  But  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews 
teaches  that  Gcd  appoints  a  high-priest.  This  of 
itself  is  fatal  to  the  theory  that  God  needs  not  to  be 
reconciled.  In  the  sense  of  having  this  Divine  authori- 
zation, the  priestly  office  is  here  said  to  be  an  honour, 
which  no  man  takes  upon  himself,  but  accepts  when 
called  thereunto  by  God.* 

How  dees  this  apply  to  the  great  High-priest  Who 
has  passed  through  the  heavens  ?  He  also  glorified 
net  Himself  to  teccme  High-priest.  The  Apostle  has 
changed  the  word.f  To  Aaron  it  was  an  honour  to  be 
high-priest.  He  was  authorized  to  act  for  Gcd  and  for 
men.     But  to  Christ  it  was  m.ore  than  an  honour,  more 

*     Cl^f  p.  V.  4.  f  T(/ui>  (v.  4)  ;  idc^aaev  (v.  5). 


iv.i4-v.io.]  THE   GREAl  HIGH-PRIEST.  79 

than  an  external  authority  conferred  upon  Him.  It 
was  part  of  the  glory  inseparable  from  His  Sonship. 
He  Who  said  to  Him,  '*  Thou  art  My  Son,"  made  Him 
thereby  potentially  High-priest.  His  office  springs 
from  His  personality,  and  is  not,  as  in  the  case  of 
Aaron,  a  prerogative  superadded.  The  author  has 
cited  the  second  Psalm  in  a  previous  passage  *  to  prove 
the  kingly  greatness  of  the  Son,  and  here  again  he 
cites  the  same  words  to  describe  His  priestly  character. 
His  priesthood  is  not  "  from  men,"  and,  therefore,  does 
not  pass  away  from  Him  to  others ;  and  this  eternal, 
independent  priesthood  of  Christ  is  typified  in  the  king- 
priest  Melchizedek.  Before  He  began  to  act  in  His 
priestly  office  God  said  to  Him,  "  Thou  art  a  Priest  for 
ever  after  the  order  of  Melchizedek."  When  He  has 
been  perfected  and  learned  His  obedience  t  by  the 
things  which  He  suffered,  God  still  addresses  Him  as 
a  High-priest  according  to  the  order  of  Melchizedek. 

*  Chap.  i.  5.  f  rriv  vwaKo-qv  (v.  8). 


THE   IMPOSSIBILITY   OF  RENEWAL, 


"  Of  Whom  we  have  many  things  to  say,  and  hard  of  interpretation, 
seeing  ye  are  become  dull  of  hearing.  For  when  by  reason  of  the  time 
ye  ought  to  be  teachers,  ye  have  need  again  that  some  one  teach  you 
the  rudiments  of  the  first  principles  of  the  oracles  of  God  ;  and  are 
become  such  as  have  need  of  milk,  and  not  of  solid  food.  For  every 
one  that  partaketh  of  milk  is  without  experience  of  the  word  of  right- 
eousness ;  for  he  is  a  babe.  But  solid  food  is  for  full-grown  men,  even 
those  who  by  reason  of  use  have  their  senses  exercised  to  discern  good 
and  evil.  Wherefore  let  us  cease  to  speak  of  the  first  principles  ot 
Christ,  and  press  on  unto  perfection  ;  not  laying  again  a  foundation  of 
repentance  from  dead  works,  and  of  faith  toward  God,  of  the  teaching 
of  baptisms,  and  of  laying  on  of  hands,  and  of  resurrection  of  the  dead, 
and  of  eternal  judgment.  And  this  will  we  do,  if  God  permit.  For  as 
touching  those  who  were  once  enlightened  and  tasted  of  the  heavenly 
gift,  and  were  made  partakers  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  tasted  the  good 
word  of  God,  and  the  powers  of  the  age  to  come,  and  then  fell  away,  it 
is  impossible  to  renew  them  again  unto  repentance  ;  seeing  they  crucify 
to  themselves  the  Son  of  God  afresh,  and  put  Him  to  an  open  shame. 
For  the  land  which  hath  drunk  the  rain  that  cometh  oft  upon  it,  and 
bringeth  forth  herbs  meet  for  them  for  whose  sake  it  is  also  tilled, 
receiveth  blessing  from  God  :  but  if  it  beareth  thorns  and  thistles,  it  is 
rejected  and  nigh  unto  a  curse ;  whose  end  is  to  be  burned." — Heb.  v. 
ii_vi.  8(R.V.). 


r-^ 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE    IMPOSSIBILITY   OF  RENEWAL, 

T  N  one  of  the  greatest  and  most  strange  of  human 
-*-  books  the  argument  is  sometimes  said  ^'to  veil 
itself,"  and  the  sustained  image  of  a  man  battling  with 
the  waves  betrays  the  writer's  hesitancy.  When  he 
has  surmounted  the  first  wave,  he  dreads  the  second. 
When  he  has  escaped  out  of  the  second,  he  fears  to 
take  another  step,  lest  the  third  wave  may  overwhelm 
him.  The  writer  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  has 
proved  that  Christ  is  Priest-King.  But  before  he  starts 
anew,  he  warns  his  readers  that  whoever  will  venture 
on  must  be  prepared  to  hear  a  hard  saying,  which  he 
himself  will  find  difficult  to  interpret  and  few  will 
receive.  Hitherto  he  has  only  shown  that  whatever 
of  lasting  worth  was  contained  in  the  old  covenant 
remains  and  is  exalted  in  Christ.  Even  this  truth  is 
an  advance  on  the  mere  rudiments  of  Christian  doctrine. 
But  what  if  he  attempts  to  prove  that  the  covenant 
which  God  made  with  their  fathers  has  waxed  old  and 
must  vanish  away  to  make  room  for  a  new  and  better 


84  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS, 

one  ?  For  his  part,  he  is  eager  to  ascend  to  these 
higher  truths.  He  has  yet  much  to  teach  about  Christ 
in  the  power  of  His  heavenly  life.*  But  his  readers  are 
dull  of  hearing  and  inexperienced  in  the  word  of  right- 
eousness. 

The  commentators  are  much  divided  and   exercised 
on  the  question  whether  the  Apostle  means   that  the 
argument  should  advance  or  that  his  readers  ought  to 
make  progress  in   spiritual  character.!     In  a  way  he 
surely  means  both.     What  gives  point   to  the  whole 
section  now  to  be  considered  is  the  connection  between 
development  of  doctrine  and  a  corresponding  develop- 
ment of  the  moral  nature.     '^  For  the  time  ye  ought  to 
be  teachers."  %     They  ought  to  have  been  teachers  of 
the  elementary  truths,   in  consequence  of  having  dis- 
covered the  higher   truths  for  themselves,  under   the 
guidance   of    God's   Spirit.     It    ought    to    have   been 
unnecessary  for  the  Apostle  to  explain  them.     At  this 
time  the  "  teachers  "  in  the  Church  had  probably  con- 
solidated into  a  class  formally  set  apart,  but  had  not 
yet  fallen  to  the  second  place,  as  compared  with  the 
**  prophets,"  which  they  occupy  in  the  "  Teaching  of  the 
Twelve  Apostles."     A  long  time  had  elapsed  since  the 
Church  of  Jerusalem,  with  the  Apostles  and  elders,  had 
sat  in  judgment  on    the   question  submitted   to   their 

*  Chap.  V.  II.  t  Chap.  vi.  i.  %  Chap.  v.  12. 


V.  ii-vi.8.]        THE  IMPOSSIBILITY  OF  RENEWAL.  8$ 

decision  by  such  men  as  Peter,  Barnabas,  Paul,  and 
James.*  Since  then  the  Hebrew  Christians  had  de- 
generated, and  now  needed  somebody — it  mattered 
Httle  who  it  might  be  f — to  teach  them  the  alphabet  % 
of  Christian  doctrine. 

Philo  had  already  emphasised^  the  distinction  between 
the  child  in  knowledge  and  the  man  of  full  age  and 
mature  judgment.  St.  Paul  had  said  more  than  once 
that  such  a  distinction  holds  among  Christians.  Many 
are  carnal;  some  are  spiritual.  In  his  writings  the 
difference  is  not  an  external  one,  nor  is  the  Hne  between 
the  two  classes  broad  and  clear.  The  one  shades  into 
the  other.  But,  though  we  may  not  be  able  to  deter- 
mine where  the  one  begins  and  the  other  ends,  both 
are  tendencies,  and  move  in  opposite  directions.  In 
the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  the  distinction  resembles 
the  old  doctrine  of  habit  taught  by  Aristotle.  Our 
organs  of  sense  are  trained  by  use  to  distinguish  forms 
and  colours.  In  like  manner,  there  are  inner  organs 
of  the  spirit,  §  which  distinguish  good  from  evil,  not 
by  mathematical  demonstration,  but  by  long-continued 
exercise  ||  in  hating  evil  and  in  loving  holiness.  The 
growth  of  this  spiritual  sense  is  connected  by  our 
author  with  the  power  to  understand  the  higher  doc- 
trine.     He   only  who  discerns,  by  force   of  spiritual 

*  Acts  XV.  t  Tiva.  (v.  12).  X  <TToix^7a.         §  ah6r]Tr,pia, 

II  yeyv/xpaa-ixiva. 


86  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS. 

insight,  what  is  good  and  what  is  evil,  can  also  under- 
stand spiritual  truths.  The  difference  between  good 
and  evil  is  not  identical  with  *' the  word  of  righteous- 
ness." But  the  moral  elevation  of  character  that 
clearly  discerns  the  former  is  the  condition  of  under- 
standing also  the  latter. 

*'  Wherefore  " — that  is,  inasmuch  as  solid  food  is  for 
full-grown  men — ^'  let  us  have  done  *  with  the  element- 
ary doctrines,  and  permit  ourselves  to  be  borne 
strongly  onwards  t  towards  full  growth  of  spiritual 
character."  J  The  Apostle  has  just  said  that  his  readers 
needed  some  one  to  teach  them  the  rudiments.  We 
should  have  expected  him,  therefore,  to  take  it  in  hand. 
But  he  reminds  them  that  the  defect  lies  deeper  than 
intellectual  error.  The  remedy  is  not  mere  teaching, 
but  spiritual  growth.  Apart  from  moral  progress  there 
can  be  no  revelation  of  new  truths.  Ever-recurring 
efforts  to  lay  the  foundation  of  individual  piety  will 
result  only  in  an  apprehension  of  what  we  may  de- 
signate personal  and  subjective  doctrines. 

The  Apostle  particularises.  Repentance  towards 
God  and  faith  in  God  are  the  initial  graces.  §  For 
without  sorrow  for  sin  and  trust  in  God's  mercy  God's 
revelation  of  Himself  in  His  Son  will  not  be  deemed 
worthy  of  all  acceptation.     If  this  is  so,  the  doctrines 

d<p^VTes  (vi.  l).         f  <f>€p(lj/j.€6a.         J  TeXeidrrjTa.         §  6e/j,4\iov, 


v.ii.vi.8.]        THE  IMPOSSIBILITY  OF  RENEWAL.  87 

suitable  to  the  initial  stage  of  the  Christian  life  will  be — 
(l)  the  doctrine  of  baptisms  and  of  laying  on  of  hands, 
and  (2)  the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  of  the  dead 
and  of  eternal  judgment.  Repentance  and  faith  accept 
the  gospel  of  forgiveness,  which  is  symbolised  in 
baptism,  and  of  absolution,  symbolised  in  the  laying  on 
of  hands.  Again,  repentance  and  faith  realise  the 
future  life  and  the  final  award ;  the  beginning  of  piety 
reaching  forth  a  hand,  as  runners  do,  as  if  to  grasp  the 
furthest  goal  before  it  touches  the  intermediate  points. 
Yet  every  intermediate  truth,  when  apprehended, 
throws  new  light  on  the  soul's  eschatology.  In  like 
manner  civilization  began  with  contemplation  of  the 
stars,  long  before  it  descended  to  chemical  analysis, 
but  at  last  it  applies  its  chemistry  to  make  discoveries 
in  the  stars. 

This,  then,  is  the  initial  stage  in  the  Christian 
character, — repentance  and  faith ;  and  these  are  the 
initial  doctrines, — baptism,  absolution,  resurrection, 
and  judgment.  How  may  they  be  described  ?  They  all 
centre  in  the  individual  believer.  They  have  all  to  do 
with  the  fact  of  his  sin.  One  question,  and  one  only, 
presses  for  an  answer.  It  is,  "What  must  I  do  to  be 
saved  ? "  One  result,  and  one  only,  flows  from  the 
salvation  obtained.  It  is  the  final  acquittal  of  the 
sinner  at  the  last  day.  God  is  known  only  as  the 
merciful  Saviour  and  the  holy  Judge.     The  whole  of 


88  THE  EPISTLE   TO    THE  HEBREWS. 

the  believer's  personal  existence  hovers  in  mid-air 
between  two  points  :  repentance  at  some  moment  in  the 
past  and  judgment  at  the  end  of  the  world.  Works 
are  "  dead/'  and  the  reason  why  is  that  they  have  no 
saving  power.  There  is  here  no  thought  of  life  as  a 
complete  thing  or  as  a  series  of  possibilities  that  ever 
spring  into  actuality,  no  thought  of  the  individual  as 
being  part  of  a  greater  whole.  The  Church  exists  for 
the  sake  of  the  believer,  not  the  believer  for  the  sake 
of  the  Church.  Even  Christ  Himself  is  nothing  more 
to  him  than  his  Saviour,  Who  by  an  atoning  death 
paid  his  debt.  The  Apostle  would  rise  to  higher  truths 
concerning  Christ  in  the  power  of  His  heavenly  life. 
This  is  the  truth  which  the  story  of  Melchizedek  will 
teach  to  such  as  are  sufficiently  advanced  in  spirituality 
to  understand  its  meaning. 

But,  before  he  faces  the  rolling  wave,  the  Apostle 
tells  his  readers  why  it  is  that,  in  reference  to  Christian 
doctrine,  character  is  the  necessary  condition  of  intelli- 
gence.    It  is  so  for  two  reasons. 

First,  the  word  spoken  by  God  in  His  Son  has  for 
its  primary  object,  not  speculation,  but  *' righteous- 
ness." *  Theology  is  essentially  a  practical,  not  a 
merely  theoretical,  science.  Its  purpose  is  to  create 
righteous  men ;  that  is,  to  produce  a  certain  character. 

♦  Chap.  V.  13. 


V.  il-vi.8.]        THE   IMPOSSIBILITY  OF  RENEWAL  89 

When  produced,  this  lofty  character  is  sustained  by 
the  truths  of  the  Gospel  as  by  a  spiritual  "  food,"  milk 
or  strong  meat.  Christianity  is  the  art  of  holy  living, 
and  the  art  is  mastered  only  as  every  other  art  is 
learned :  by  practice  or  experience.  But  experience 
will  suggest  rules,  and  rules  will  lead  to  principles. 
The  art  itself  creates  a  faculty  to  transform  it  into  a 
science.  Religion  will  produce  a  theology.  The  doc- 
trine will  be  understood  only  by  the  possessor  of  that 
goodness  to  which  it  has  itself  given  birth. 

Second,  the  Apostle  introduces  the  personal  action  of 
God  into  the  question.  Understanding  of  the  higher 
truths  is  God's  blessing  on  goodness,*  and  destruction 
of  the  faculty  of  spiritual  discernment  is  His  way  of 
punishing  moral  depravity,  f  This  is  the  general  sense 
and  purport  of  an  extremely  difBcult  passage.  The 
threatened  billow  is  still  far  away.  But  before  it  rolls 
over  us,  we  seem  to  be  already  submerged  under  the 
waves.  Our  only  hope  lies  in  the  Apostle's  illustration 
of  the  earth  that  bears  here  thorns  and  there  good 
grain. 

Expositors  go  quite  astray  when  they  explain  the 
simile  as  if  it  were  intended  to  describe  the  effect  on 
moral  character  of  rightly  or  wrongly  using  our  faculty 
of  knowledge.      The   meaning   is    the   reverse.      The 


Chap.  vi.  7.  t  Chap,  v    8. 


90  THE  EPISTLE   TO    THE  HEBREWS. 

Apostle  is  showing  the  effect  of  character  on  our  power 
to  understand  truth.  Neither  soil  is  barren.  Both 
lands  drink  in  the  rain  that  often  comes  upon  them. 
But  the  fatness  of  the  one  field  brings  forth  thorns  and 
thistles,  and  this  can  only  mean  that  the  man's  vigour 
of  soul  is  itself  an  occasion  of  moral  evil.  The  richness 
of  the  other  land  produces  plants  fit  for  use  by  men, 
who  are  the  sole  reason  for  its  tillage.*  This,  again, 
must  mean  that,  in  the  case  of  some  men,  God  blesses 
that  natural  strength  which  itself  is  neither  good  nor 
evil,  and  it  becomes  a  source  of  goodness.  We  come 
now  to  the  result  in  each  case.  The  soil  that  brings 
forth  useful  herbs  has  its  share  of  the  Creator's  first 
blessing.  What  the  blessing  consists  in  we  are  not 
here  told,  and  it  is  not  necessary  to  pursue  this  side  of 
the  illustration  further.  But  the  other  soil,  which  gives 
its  natural  strength  to  the  production  of  noxious  weeds, 
falls  under  the  Creator's  primal  curse  and  is  nigh 
unto  burning.  The  point  of  the  parable  evidently  is 
that  God  blesses  the  one,  that  Gcd  destroys  the  other. 
In  both  cases  the  Apostle  recognises  the  Divine  action, 
carrying  into  effect  a  Divine  threat  and  a  Divine 
promise. 

Let  us  see  how  the  simile  is  appHed.     The  terrible 
word  "  impossible  "  might  indeed  have  been  pronounced, 

*    5t'  0U5. 


v.ii-vi.8.]       THE  IMPOSSIBILITY  OF  RENEWAL,  91 

with  some  qualification,  over  a  man  who  had  fallen 
under  the  power  of  evil  habits.  For  God  sets  His  seal 
to  the  verdict  of  our  moral  nature.  To  such  a  man  the 
only  escape  is  through  the  strait  gate  of  repentance. 
But  here  we  have  much  more  than  the  ordinary  evil 
habits  of  men,  such  as  covetousness,  hypocrisy,  carnal 
imaginations,  cruelty.  The  Apostle  is  thinking  through- 
out of  God's  revelation  in  His  Son.  He  refers  to  the 
righteous  anger  of  God  against  those  who  persistently 
despise  the  Son.  In  the  second  chapter*  he  has  asked 
how  men  who  neglect  the  salvation  spoken  through  the 
Lord  can  hope  to  shun  God's  anger.  Here  he  declares 
the  same  truth  in  a  stronger  form.  How  shall  they 
escape  His  wrath  who  crucify  afresh  the  Son  and  put 
Him  to  an  open  shame  ?  Such  men  God  will  punish 
by  hardening  their  hearts,  so  that  they  cannot  even 
repent.     The  initial  grace  becomes  impossible. 

The  four  parts  of  the  simile  and  of  the  application 
correspond. 

Firsty  drinking  in  the  rain  that  often  comes  upon 
the  land  corresponds  to  being  once  enlightened,  tasting 
of  the  heavenly  gift,  being  made  partakers  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  and  tasting  the  good  word  of  God  and 
the  powers  of  the  world  to  come.  The  rain  descends 
on  all  the  land  and  gives  it  its  natural  richness.     The 

*  Chap.  ii.  3. 


92  THE  EPISTLE    TO   THE  HEBREWS. 

question  whether  the  Apostle  speaks  of  converted  or 
unconverted  men  is  entirely  beside  the  purpose,  and 
may  safely  be  relegated  to  the  limbo  of  misapplied 
interpretations.  No  doubt  the  controversy  between 
Calvinists  and  Arminians  concerning  final  perseverance 
and  the  possibility  of  a  fall  from  a  state  of  grace  is 
itself  vastly  important.  But  tne  question  whether  the 
gifts  mentioned  are  bestowed  on  an  unconverted  man 
is  of  no  importance  to  the  right  apprehension  of  the 
Apostle's  meaning.  We  must  be  forgiven  for  thinking 
he  had  it  not  in  his  mind.  It  is  more  to  the  purpose 
to  remind  ourselves  that  all  these  excellences  are 
regarded  by  the  Apostle  as  gifts  of  God,  like  the  oft- 
descending  rain,  not  as  moral  qualities  in  men.  He 
mentions  the  one  enlightenment  produced  by  the  one 
revelation  of  God  in  His  Son.  It  may  be  compared  to 
the  opening  of  blind  eyes  or  the  startled  waking  of  the 
soul  by  a  great  idea.  To  taste  the  heavenly  gift  is  to 
make  trial  of  the  new  truth.  To  be  made  partakers  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  is  to  be  moved  by  a  supernatural  en- , 
lightening  influence.  To  taste  the  good  word  of  God  ; 
is  to  discern  the  moral  beauty  of  the  revelation.  To 
taste  the  powers  of  the  world  to  come  is  to  participate 
in  the  gifts  of  power  which  the  Spirit  divides  to  each 
one  severally  even  as  He  will.  All  these  things  have 
an  intellectual  quality.  Faith  in  Christ  and  love  to 
God   are    purposely   excluded.      The   Apostle    brings 


v.£i-vi.8.         THE  IMPOSSIBILITY  OF  RENEWAL.  93 


together  various  phases  of  our  spiritual  inteUigence, — 
the  gift  of  illumination,  which  we  sometimes  call  genius, 
sometimes  culture,  sometimes  insight,  the  faculty  that 
ought  to  apprehend  Christ  and  welcome  the  revelation 
in  the  Son.  If  these  high  gifts  are  used  to  scoff  at  the 
Son  of  God,  and  that  with  the  persistence  that  can 
spring  only  from  the  pride  and  ■  self-righteousness  of 
unbelief,  renewal  is  impossible. 

Second,  the  negative  result  of  not  bringing  forth  any 
useful  herbs  corresponds  to  falling  away.*  God  has 
bestowed  His  gift  of  enlightenment,  but  there  is  no 
response  of  heart  and  will.  The  soul  does  not  lay 
hold,  but  drifts  away. 

Thirdy  the  positive  result  of  bearing  thorns  and 
thistles  corresponds  to  crucifying  to  themselves  the  Son 
of  God  afresh  and  putting  Him  to  an  open  shame. 
The  gifts  of  God  have  been  abused,  and  the  contrary 
of  what  He,  in  His  care  for  men,  intended  the  earth 
to  produce,  is  the  result.  The  Divine  gift  of  spiritual 
enlightenment  has  been  itself  turned  into  a  very  genius 
of  cynical  mockery.  The  Son  of  God  has  already 
been  once  crucified  amid  the  awful  scenes  of  Geth- 
semane  and  Calvary.  The  agony  and  bloody  sweat, 
the  cry  of  infinite  loneliness  on  the  Cross,  the  tender 
compassion  of  the  dying  Jesus,  the  power  of  His  resur- 

♦  irapaireadvTas  (vi.  5).     Cf.  wapapvufxep  (ii.  l). 


94  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS. 

rection — all  this  is  past.  One  bitterness  yet  remains. 
Men  use  God's  own  gift  of  spiritual"  illumination  to 
crucify  the  Son  afresh.  But  they  crucify  Him  only 
for  themselves.*  When  the  sneer  has  died  away  on 
the  scoffer's  lips,  nothing  is  left.  No  result  has  been 
achieved  in  the  moral  world.  When  Christ  was 
crucified  on  Calvary,  His  death  changed  for  ever  the 
relations  of  God  and  men.  When  He  is  crucified  in 
the  reproach  of  His  enemies,  nothing  has  been  accom- 
plished outside  the  scoffer's  little  world  of  vanity  and 
pride. 

Fourthy  to  be  nigh  unto  a  curse  and  to  be  given  in 
the  end  to  be  burned  corresponds  to  the  impossibility 
of  renewal.  The  illustration  requires  us  to  distinguish 
between  '^  falling  away "  and  ^'  crucifying  the  Son  of 
God  afresh  and  putting  Him  to  an  open  shame."  f  The 
land  is  doomed  to  be  burned  because  it  bears  thorns 
and  thistles.  God  renders  men  incapable  of  repent- 
ance, not  because  they  have  fallen  away  once  or  more 
than  once,  but  because  they  scoff  at  the  Son,  through 
Whom  God  has  spoken  unto  us.     The  terrible  impos- 

*  iavToh. 

f  Apart  from  the  exigencies  of  the  illustration,  the  change  from  the 
aorist  participle  to  the  present  participles  tells  in  the  same  way.  It 
is  extreirely  harsh  to  consider  dpaaravpovvrai  and  irapadeiyfiari^ovTas 
to  be  explanatory  of  irapairecovTat.  The  former  must  be  rendered 
hypothetically :  "They  cannot  be  renewed  after  falling  away  if  they 
persist  in  crucifying,'  etc. 


V.  ii-vi.8.]        THE  IMPOSSIBILITY  OF  RENEWAL  95 

sibility  of  renewal  here  threatened  applies,  not  to 
apostasy  (as  the  early  Church  maintained)  nor  to  the 
lapsed  (as  the  Novatianists  held),*  but  to  apostasy 
combined  with  a  cynical,  scoffing  temper  that  persists 
in  treading  the  Son  of  God  under  foot.  Apostasy 
resembles  the  sin  against  the  Son  of  man;  cynicism 
in  reference  to  the  Son  of  man  comes  very  near  the  sin 
against  the  Holy  Ghost.  This  sin  is  not  forgiven, 
because  it  hardens  the  heart  and  makes  repentance 
impossible.  It  hardens  the  heart,  because  God  is 
jealous  of  His  Son's  honour,  and  punishes  the  scoffer 
with  the  utter  destruction  of  the  spiritual  faculty  and 
with  absolute  inability  to  recover  it.  This  is  not  the 
mere  force  of  habit.  It  is  God's  retribution,  and  the 
Apostle  mentions  it  here  because  the  text  of  the  whole 
Epistle  is  that  God  has  spoken  unto  us  in  His  Son. 

But  the  Hebrew  Christians  have  not  come  to  this.f 
The  Apostle  is  persuaded  better  things  of  them,  and 
things  that  are  nigh,  not  unto  a  curse,  but  unto 
ultimate  salvation.  Yet  they  are  not  free  from  the 
danger.  If  we  may  appropriate  the  language  of  an 
eminent  historian,  ''the  worship  of  wealth,  grandeur, 


*  The  apostates,  or  deserters,  were  not  identical  with  the  lapsed,  who 
fell  away  from  fear  of  martyrdom.  Novatian  refused  to  restore  either 
to  Church  privileges.  The  Church  restored  the  latter,  but  not  the 
former.     Cf.  Cyprian,  Ep.  Iv.  ad  fin, 

f  Chap.  vi.  9. 


96  ^  THE  EPISTLE    TO    THE  HEBREWS, 


and  dominion  blinded  the  Jews  to  the  form  of  spiritual 
godliness ;  the  rejection  of  the  Saviour  and  the 
deification  of  Herod  were  parallel  manifestations  of 
the  same  engrossing  delusion."*  That  the  Christian 
Hebrews  may  not  fall  under  the  curse  impending  over 
their  race,  the  Apostle  urges  them  to  press  on  unto  full 
growth  of  character.  And  this  he  and  they  wall  do — 
he  ranks  himself  among  them,  and  ventures  to  make 
reply  in  their  name.  But  He  must  add  an  "if  God 
permit."  For  there  are  men  whom  God  will  not 
permit  to  advance  a  jot  higher.  Because  they  have 
abused  His  great  gift  of  illumination  to  scoff  at  the 
greater  gift  of  the  Son,  they  are  doomed  to  forfeit 
possession  of  both.  The  only  doomed  man  is  the 
cynic. 


♦  Dean  Merivale,  Ro77ians  under  the  Empire,  chap.  lix. 


THE   IMPOSSIBILITY   OF  FAILURE, 


"  But,  beloved,  we  are  persuaded  better  things  of  you,  and  things 
that  accompany  salvation,  though  we  thus  speak  :  for  God  is  not 
unrighteous  to  forget  your  work  and  the  love  which  ye  showed  toward 
His  name,  in  that  ye  ministered  unto  the  saints,  and  still  do  minister. 
And  we  desire  that  each  one  of  you  may  show  the  same  d  ligence  unto  the 
fulness  of  hope  even  to  the  end :  that  ye  be  not  sluggish,  but  imitators 
of  them  who  through  faith  and  patience  inherit  the  promises.  For 
when  God  made  promise  to  Abraham,  since  He  could  swear  by  none 
greater.  He  sware  by  Himself,  saying.  Surely  blessing  I  will  bless  thee, 
and  multiplying  I  will  multiply  thee.  And  thus,  having  patiently 
endured,  he  obtained  the  promise.  For  men  swear  by  the  greater  : 
and  in  every  dispute  of  theirs  the  oath  is  final  for  confirmation. 
Wherein  God,  being  minded  to  show  more  abundantly  unto  the  heirs  of 
the  promise  the  immutability  of  His  counsel,  interposed  with  an  oath  : 
that  by  two  immutable  things,  in  which  it  is  impossible  for  God  to  lie, 
we  may  have  a  strong  encouragement,  who  have  fled  for  refuge  to  lay 
hold  of  the  hope  set  before  us  ;  which  we  have  as  an  anchor  of  the  soul, 
a  hope  both  sure  and  steadfast  and  entering  into  that  which  is  within  the 
veil ;  whither  as  a  Forerunner  Jesus  entered  for  us,  having  become  a 
High-priest  for  ever  after  the  order  of  Melchizedek. " — Heb.  vi.  9—20 
(R.V.). 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE    IMPOSSIBILITY   OF   FAILURE. 

OOLEMN  warning  is  followed  by  words  of  affec- 
*^^  tionate  encouragement.  Impossibility  of  renewal 
is  not  the  only  impossibility  within  the  compass  of  the 
Gospel.*  Over  against  the  descent  to  perdition,  hope 
of  the  better  things  grasps  salvation  with  the  one  hand 
and  the  climbing  pilgrim  with  the  other,  and  makes  his 
failure  to  reach  the  summit  impossible.  Both  impossi- 
bilities have  their  source  in  God's  justice.  He  is  not 
unjust  to  forget  the  deed  of  love  shown  towards  His 
name,  when  the  only-begotten  Son  ministered  to  men 
and  still  ministers.  Contempt  of  this  love  God  will 
punish.  Neither  is  He  unjust  to  forget  the  love  that 
ministered  to  His  poor  saints  in  days  of  persecution, 
when  the  Hebrew  Christians  became  partakers  with 
their  fellow-believers  in  their  reproaches  and  tribula- 
tions, showed  pity  towards  their  brethren  in  prisons, 
and  took  joyfully  the  spoiling  of  their  goods. t  The 
stream  of  brotherly  kindness  was  still  flowing.     This 

♦  Compare  chap.  vi.  4  and  cliap.  vi.  18.  f  Chap.  x.  34. 


100  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS. 

love  God  rewards.  But  the  Apostle  desires  them  to 
shoW;  not  only  faithfulness  in  ministering  to  the  saints, 
but  also  Christian  earnestness  generally,*  until  they 
attain  the  full  assurance  of  hope.  The  older  expositors 
understand  the  words  to  express  the  Apostle's  wish 
that  his  readers  should  continue  to  minister  to  the 
saints.  But  Calvin's  view  has,  especially  since  the  time 
of  Bengel,  been  generally  accepted  :  that  the  Apostle 
urges  his  readers  to  be  as  diligent  in  seeking  the  full 
assurance  of  hope  as  they  are  in  ministering  to  the 
poor.  This  is  most  probably  the  meaning,  but  with 
the  addition  that  he  speaks  of  "earnestness"  generally, 
not  merely  of  active  diligence.  Their  religion  was  too 
narrow  in  range.  Care  for  the  poor  has  sometimes 
been  the  piety  of  sluggish  despondency  and  bigotry. 
But  spiritual  earnestness  is  the  moral  discipline  that 
works  hope,  a  hope  that  makes  not  ashamed,  but  leads 
men  on  to  an  assured  confidence  that  the  promise  of 
God  will  be  fulfilled,  though  now  black  clouds  over- 
spread their  sky. 

An  incentive  to  faith  and  endurance  will  be  found  in 
the  example  of  all  inheritors  of  God's  promise.f  The 
Apostle  is  on  the  verge  of  anticipating  the  splendid 
record  of  the  eleventh  chapter.  But  he  arrests  himself, 
partly  because,  at  the  present  stage  of  his  argument, 

*  otfov^-^v  {v\.  II).  t  Chap,  vi.  13. 


vi.9-2o.]        THE  IMPOSSIBILITY  OF  FAILURE.  loi 

he  can  speak  of  faith  only  as  the  deep  fountain  of 
endurance.  He  cannot  now  describe  it  as  the  reahsa- 
tion  and  the  proof  of  things  unseen.*  He  wishes, 
moreover,  to  dwell  on  the  oath  made  by  God  to 
Abraham.  Even  this,  if  not  an  anticipation  of  what  is 
still  to  come,  is  at  least  a  preparation  of  the  reader  for 
the  distinction  hereafter  effectively  handled  between 
the  high-priest  made  without  an  oath  and  the  High- 
priest  made  with  an  oath.  But,  in  the  present  section, 
the  emphatic  notion  is  that  the  promise  made  to 
Abraham  is  the  same  promise  which  the  Apostle  and 
his  brethren  wait  to  see  fulfilled,  and  that  the  confirma- 
tion of  the  promise  by  oath  to  Abraham  is  still  in  force 
for  their  strong  encouragement.  It  is  true  that 
Abraham  received  the  fulfilment  of  the  promise  in  his 
lifetime,  but  only  in  a  lower  form.  The  promise,  Hke 
the  Sabbath  rest,  has  become  more  and  still  more 
elevated,  profound,  spiritual,  with  the  long  delay  of 
God  to  make  it  good.  It  is  equally  true  that  the  saints 
under  the  Old  Testament  received  not  the  fulfilment 
of  the  promise  in  its  highest  meaning,  and  were  not 
perfected  apart  from  believers  of  after-ages,  f  God's 
words  never  grow  obsolete.  They  are  never  left 
behind  by  the  Church.  If  they  seem  to  pass  away,  they 
return  laden  with  still  choicer  fruit.    The  coursing  moon 

*  Chap.  xi.  I.  f  Chap.  xi.  40. 


THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS. 


in  the  high  heavens  is  never  outstripped  by  the  belated 
traveller.  The  hope  of  the  Gospel  is  ever  set  before 
us.  God  swears  to  Abraham  in  the  spring-time  of  the 
world  that  we^  on  whom  the  ends  of  the  ages  have 
come,  may  have  a  strong  incentive  to  press  onwards. 

But,  if  the  oath  of  God  to  Abraham  is  to  inspire  us 
with  new  courage,  we  must  resemble  Abraham  in  the 
eager  earnestness  and  calm  endurance  of  his  faith. 
The  passage  has  often  been  treated  as  if  the  oath  had 
been  intended  to  meet  the  weakness  of  faith.  But 
unbelief  is  logician  enough  to  argue  that  God's  word  is 
as  good  as  His  bond ;  yea,  that  we  have  no  knowledge 
of  His  oath  except  from  His  word.  The  Apostle 
refers  to  the  greatest  instance  of  faith  ever  shown  even 
by  Abraham,  when  he  withheld  not  his  son,  his 
beloved  son,  on  Moriah.  The  oath  was  made  to  him 
by  God,  not  before  he  gave  up  Isaac,  in  order  to 
encourage  his  weakness,  but  when  he  had  done  it,  as 
a  reward  of  his  strength.  Philo's  fine  sentence,  which 
indeed  the  sacred  w'riter  partly  borrows,  is  intended  to 
teach  the  same  lesson  :  that,  while  disappointments  are 
heaped  on  sense,  an  endless  abundance  of  good  things 
has  been  given  to  the  earnest  soul  and  the  perfect 
man.*  It  is  to  Abraham  when  he  has  achieved  his 
supreme  victory  of  faith  that  God  vouchsafes  to  make 

*  SS.  Legg.  Alleg.,  iii.,  p.  98  (vol.  i.,  p.  127,  Mang.).  With  Philo's 
T^  atrovhaLq.  ^ixv  compare  the  Apostle's  awovdrjv  (chap.  v.  ii). 


vi.9-20.]        THE  IMPOSSIBILITY  OF  FAILURE.  103 

oath  that  He  will  fulfil  His  promise.  This  gives  us 
the  clue  to  the  purport  of  the  words.  Up  to  this  final 
test  of  Abraham's  faith  God's  promise  is,  so  to  speak, 
conditional.  It  will  be  fulfilled  if  Abraham  will  believe. 
Now  at  length  the  promise  is  given  unconditionally. 
Abraham  has  gone  triumphantly  through  every  trial. 
He  has  not  withheld  his  son.  So  great  is  his  faith 
that  God  can  now  confirm  His  promise  with  a  positive 
declaration,  which  transforms  a  promise  made  to  a  man 
into  a  prediction  that  binds  Himself.  Or  shall  we 
retract  the  expression  that  the  promise  is  now  given 
unconditionally  ?  The  condition  is  transferred  from 
the  faith  of  Abraham  to  the  faithfulness  of  God.  In 
this  Hes  the  oath.  God  pledges  His  own  existence  on 
the  fulfilment  of  His  promise.  He  says  no  longer,  "  If 
thou  canst  believe,"  but  "  As  true  as  I  live."  Speaking 
humanly,  unbelief  on  the  part  of  Abraham  would  have 
made  the  promise  of  God  of  none  effect;  for  it  was 
conditional  on  Abraham's  faith.  But  the  oath  has 
raised  the  promise  above  being  affected  by  the  unbelief 
of  some,  and  itself  includes  the  faith  of  some.  St.  Paul 
can  now  ask,  "  What  if  some  did  not  believe  ?  Shall 
their  unbehef  make  the  faith"  (no  longer  merely  the- 
promise)  ^'  of  God  without  effect  ?  "  *  Our  author  also 
can  speak  of  two  immutable  things,  in  which  it  was 

*  Rom.  iii.  3. 


104  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS. 

impossible  for  God  to  lie.  The  one  is  the  promise,  the 
immutabiUty  of  which  means  only  that  God,  on  His 
part,  does  not  retract,  but  casts  on  men  the  blame  if 
the  promise  is  not  fulfilled.  The  other  is  the  oath,  in 
which  God  takes  the  matter  into  His  own  hands  and 
puts  the  certainty  of  His  fulfilling  the  promise  to  rest 
on  His  own  eternal  being. 

The  Apostle  is  careful  to  point  out  the  wide  and 
essential  difference  between  the  oath  of  God  and  the 
oaths  of  men.  "  For  men  swear  by  the  greater ; "  that 
is,  they  call  upon  God,  as  the  Almighty,  to  destroy 
them  if  they  are  uttering  what  is  false.  They  imprecate 
a  curse  upon  themselves.  If  they  have  sworn  to  a 
falsehood,  and  if  the  imprecation  falls  on  their  heads, 
they  perish,  and  the  matter  ends.  And  yet  an  oath 
decides  all  disputes  between  man  and  man.*  Though 
they  appeal  to  an  Omnipotence  that  often  turns  a  deaf 
ear  to  their  prayer  against  themselves ;  though,  if  the 
Almighty  were  to  fling  retribution  on  them,  the  wheels 
of  nature  would  whirl  as  merrily  as  before;  though, 
if  their  false  swearing  were  to  cause  the  heavens  to 
fall,  the  men  would  still  exist  and  continue  to  be  men  ; 
— yet,  for  all  this,  they  accept  an  oath  as  final  settle- 
ment. They  are  compelled  to  come  to  terms ;  for  they 
are  at  their  wits'  end.     But  it  is  very  different  with  the 

*  Chap.  vi.  1 6, 


vi.9-20.]        THE  IMPOSSIBILITY  OF  FAILURE.  105 

oath  of  God.  When  He  swears  by  Himself,  He  appeals, 
not  to  His  omnipotence,  but  to  His  truthfulness.  If  any 
jot  or  tittle  of  God's  promise  fails  to  the  feeblest  child 
that  trusts  Him,  God  ceases  to  be.  He  has  been 
annihilated,  not  by  an  act  of  power,  but  by  a  lie. 

We  have  said  that  the  oath  met,  not  the  weakness, 
but  the  strength,  of  Abraham's  faith.  If  so,  why  was  it 
given  him  ? 

First^  it  simplified  his  faith.  It  removed  all  tendency 
to  morbid  introspection  and  filled  his  spirit  with  a 
peaceful  reliance  on  God's  faithfulness.  He  had  no 
more  need  to  try  himself  whether  he  was  in  the  faith. 
Anxious  effort  and  painful  struggle  were  over.  Faith 
was  now  the  very  life  of  his  soul.  He  could  leave  his 
concerns  to  God,  and  wait.  This  is  the  thought  ex- 
pressed in  the  word  "enduring." 

Second,  it  was  a  new  revelation  of  God  to  him,  and 
thus  elevated  his  spiritual  nature.  The  moral 
character  of  the  Most  High,  rather  than  His  natural 
attribute  of  omnipotence,  became  the  resting-place  of 
his  spirit.  Even  the  joy  of  God's  heart  was  made 
known  and  communicated  to  his.  God  was  pleased 
with  Abraham's  final  victory  over  unbelief,  and.  wished 
to  show  him  more  abundantly  *  His  counsel  and  the 
immutabiUty  of  it.     "  The  secret  of  the  Lord  is  with 

♦  vepiffffdrepovt 


io6  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS. 

them   that   fear   Him,    and    He   will   show   them    His 
covenant."  * 

Thirdy  it  was  intended  also  for  our  encouragement. 
It  is  strange,  but  true,  that  the  promises  of  God  are 
confirmed  to  us  by  the  victorious  faith  of  a  nomad  chief 
from  Ur  of  the  Chaldees,  who,  in  the  morning  of  the 
world's  history,  withheld  not  his  son.  After  all,  we  are 
not  disconnected  units.  God  only  can  trace  the  count- 
less threads  of  influence.  Abraham's  strong  faith 
evoked  the  oath  that  now  sustains  the  weakness  of 
ours.  Because  he  believed  so  well,  the  promise  comes 
to  us  with  all  the  sanction  of  God's  own  truth  and 
unchangeableness.  The  oath  made  to  Abraham  was 
linked  with  a  still  more  ancient,  even  an  eternal,  oath, 
made  to  the  Son,  constituting  Him  Priest  for  ever 
after  the  order  of  Melchizedek.  The  priesthood  of 
Melchizedek  is  said  by  the  Apostle  to  be  a  type  of 
the  priesthood  founded  on  an  oath.  It  was  becoming 
that  the  man  who  acknowledged  the  priesthood  of 
Melchizedek  and  received  its  blessing  should  have  that 
blessing  fulfilled  to  him  in  the  confirmation  by  oath  of 
God's  promise.  Thus  the  promises  that  have  been 
fulfilled  through  the  eternal  priesthood  of  the  true 
Melchizedek  are  confirmed  to  us  by  an  oath  made  to 
him  who  acknowledged  that  priesthood  in  the  typical 
Melchizedek. 

*  Ps.  xxiv.   14, 


vi.9-20.  THE  IMPOSSIBILITY  OF  FAILURE.  107 

Yet,  notwithstanding  these  vital  points  of  contact, 
Abraham  and  the  Hebrew  Christians  are  in  some 
respects  very  unlike.  They  have  left  his  serene  and 
contemplative  life  far  behind.  The  souls  of  men  are 
stirred  with  dread  of  the  threatened  end  of  all  things. 
Abraham  had  no  need  to  flee  for  refuge  from  an  im- 
pending wrath.  His  religion  even  was  not  a  fleeing 
from  any  wrath  to  come,  but  a  yearning  for  a  better 
fatherland.  He  never  heard  the  midnight  cry  of 
Maranatha,  but  longed  to  be  gathered  to  his  fathers. 
If  any  simihtude  to  the  Christian's  fleeing  from  the 
wrath  to  come  must  be  sought  in  ancient  days,  it 
will  be  found  in  the  history  of  Lot,  not  of  Abraham. 
Whether  the  Apostle's  thoughts  rested  for  a  moment 
on  Lot's  flight  from  Sodom,  it  is  impossible  to  say. 
His  mind  is  moving  so  rapidly  that  one  illustration 
after  another  flits  before  his  eye.  The  notion  of 
Abraham's  strong  faith,  reaching  out  a  hand  to  the 
strong  grasp  of  God's  oath,  reminds  him  of  men  fleeing 
for  refuge,  perhaps  into  a  sanctuary,  and  laying  hold 
of  the  horns  of  the  altar,  with  a  reminiscence  of  the 
Baptist's  taunting  question,  "Who  warned  you  to  flee 
from  the  wrath  to  come  ?  "  and  a  side  glance  at  the 
approaching  destruction  of  the  holy  city,  if  indeed 
the  catastrophe  had  not  already  befallen  the  doomed 
people.  The  thought  suggests  another  illustration. 
Our  hope  is  an  anchor  cast  into  the  deep  sea.     The 


io8  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS, 

anchor  is  sure  and  steadfast — ''  sure,"  for,  like  Abra- 
ham's faith,  it  will  neither  break  nor  bend ;  ''  stead- 
fast," for,  like  Abraham's  faith  again,  it  bites  the 
eternal  rock  of  the  oath.  Still  another  metaphor  lends 
itself.  The  deep  sea  is  above  all  heavens  in  the 
sanctuary  within  the  veil,  and  the  rock  is  Jesus,  Who 
has  entered  into  the  holiest  place  as  our  High-priest. 
Yet  another  thought.  Jesus  is  not  only  High-priest, 
but  also  Captain,  of  the  redeemed  host,  leading  us  on, 
and  opening  the  way  for  us  to  enter  after  Him  into 
the  sanctuary  of  the  promised  land. 

Thus,  with  the  help  of  metaphor  heaped  on  meta- 
phor in  the  fearless  confusion  delightful  to  conscious 
strength  and  gladness,  the  Apostle  has  at  last  come 
to  the  great  conception  of  Christ  in  the  sanctuary  of 
heaven.  He  has  hesitated  long  to  plunge  into  the 
wave ;  and  even  now  he  will  not  at  once  lift  the  veil 
from  the  argument.  The  allegory  of  Melchizedek  must 
prepare  us  for  it. 


THE  ALLEGORY  OF  MELCHIZEDEK, 


Hebrews  vii.  1—28  (R.V.). 

*  For  this  Melchizedek,  King  of  Salem,  priest  of  God  Most  High,  who 
met  Abraham  returning  from  the  slaughter  of  the  kings,  and  blessed 
him,  to  whom  also  Abraham  divided  a  tenth  part  of  all  (being  first,  by 
interpretation,  King  of  righteousness,  and  then  also  King  of  Salem,  which 
is.  King  of  peace ;  without  father,  without  mother,  without  genealogy, 
having  neither  beginning  of  days  nor  end  of  life,  but  made  like  unto  the 
Son  of  God),  abideth  a  priest  continually.  Now  consider  how  great  this 
man  was,  unto  whom  Abraham,  the  patriarch,  gave  a  tenth  out  of  the 
chief  spoils.  And  they  indeed  of  the  sons  of  Levi  that  receive  the  priest's 
office  have  commandment  to  take  tithes  of  the  people  according  to  the 
law,  that  is,  of  their  brethren,  though  these  have  come  out  of  the  loins 
of  Abraham  :  but  he  whose  genealogy  is  not  counted  from  them  hath 
taken  tithes  of  Abraham,  and  hath  blessed  him  that  hath  the  promises. 
But  without  any  dispute  the  less  is  blessed  of  the  better.  And  here 
men  that  die  receive  tithes  ;  but  there  one,  of  whom  it  is  witnessed 
that  he  liveth.  And,  so  to  say,  through  Abraham  even  Levi,  who 
receiveth  tithes,  hath  paid  tithes ;  for  he  was  yet  in  the  loins  of  his 
father,  when  Melchizedek  met  him.  Now  if  there  was  perfection 
through  the  Levitical  priesthood  (for  under  it  hath  the  people  received 
the  Law),  what  further  need  was  there  that  another  Priest  should  arise 
after  the  order  of  Melchizedek,  and  not  be  reckoned  after  the  order  of 
Aaron?  For  the  priesthood  being  changed,  there  is  made  of  necessity 
a  change  also  of  the  law.  For  He  of  Whom  these  things  are  said 
belongeth  to  another  tribe,  from  which  no  man  hath  given  attendance 
at  the  altar.  For  it  is  evident  that  our  Lord  hath  sprung  out  of  Judah  ; 
as  to  which  tribe  Moses  spake  nothing  concerning  priests.  And  what  we 
say  is  yet  more  abundantly  evident,  if  after  the  likeness  of  Melchizedek 
there  ariseth  another  Priest,  Who  hath  been  made,  not  after  the  law 


of  a  carnal  commandment,  but  after  the  power  of  an  endless  life 
it  is  witnessed  of  Him, 

Thou  art  a  Priest  for  ever 
After  the  order  of  Melchizedek. 
For  there  is  a  disannulling  oi  a  foregoing  commandment  because  of  its 
weakness  and  unprofitableness  (for  the  Law  made  nothing  perfect),  and 
a  bringing  in  thereupon  of  a  better  hope,  through  which  we  draw  nigh 
unto  God.  And  inasmuch  as  it  is  not  without  the  taking  of  an  oath 
(for  they  indeed  have  been  made  priests  without  an  oath;  but  He  with 
an  oath  by  Him  that  saith  of  Him, 

The  Lord  sware  and  will  not  repent  Himself, 

Thou  art  a  Priest  for  ever) ; 
by  so  much  also  hath  Jesus  become  the  Surety  of  a  better  covenant. 
And  they  indeed  have  been  made  priests  many  in  number,  because  that 
by  death  they  are  hindered  from  continuing  :  but  He,  because  He 
abideth  for  ever,  hath  His  priesthood  unchangeable.  Wherefore  also 
He  is  able  to  save  to  the  uttermost  them  that  draw  near  unto  God 
through  Him,  seeing  He  ever  liveth  to  make  intercession  for  them.  For 
such  a  High-priest  became  us,  holy,  guileless,  undefiled,  separated  from 
sinners,  and  made  higher  than  the  heavens  ;  Who  needeth  not  daily,  like 
those  high-priests,  to  offer  up  sacrifices,  first  for  His  own  sins,  and  then 
for  the  sins  of  the  people  :  for  this  He  did  once  for  all,  when  He  offered 
up  Himself.  For  the  Law  appointeth  men  high-priests,  having  infir- 
mity ;  but  the  word  of  the  oath,  which  was  after  the  Law,  appointeth 
a  Son,  perfected  for  evermore." 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  ALLEGORY  OF  MELCHLZEDEK. 

JESUS  has  entered  heaven  as  our  Forerunner,  in 
virtue  of  His  eternal  priesthood.  The  endless 
duration  and  heavenly  power  of  His  priesthood  is  the 
"  hard  saying "  which  the  Hebrew  Christians  would 
not  easily  receive,  inasmuch  as  it  involves  the  setting 
aside  of  the  old  covenant.  But  it  rests  on  the  words 
of  the  inspired  Psalmist.  Once  already  an  inference 
has  been  drawn  from  the  Psalmist's  prophecy.  The 
meaning  of  the  Sabbath  rest  has  not  been  exhausted 
in  the  Sabbath  of  Judaism ;  for  David,  so  long  after 
the  time  of  Moses,  speaks  of  another  and  better  day. 
Similarly  in  the  seventh  chapter  the  Apostle  finds  an 
argument  in  the  mysterious  words  of  the  Psalm, 
"The  Lord  hath  sworn,  and  will  not  repent.  Thou 
art  a  Priest  for  ever  after  the  order  of  Melchizedek."  * 

The  words  are  remarkable  because  they  imply  that 
'n  the  heart  of  Judaism  there    lurked  a  yearning    for 

*  Ps.  ex.  4. 


114  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS, 

another  and  different  kind  of  priesthood  from  that 
of  Aaron's  order.  It  may  be  compared  to  the  strange 
intrusion  now  and  again  of  other  gods  than  the  deities 
of  Olympus  into  the  rehgion  of  the  Greeks,  either 
by  the  introduction  of  a  new  deity  or  by  way  of  return 
to  a  condition  of  things  that  existed  before  the  young 
gods  of  the  court  of  Zeus  began  to  hold  sway.  But, 
to  add  to  the  mysterious  character  of  the  Psalm,  it 
gives  utterance  to  a  desire  for  another  King  also,  Who 
should  be  greater  than  a  mere  son  of  David :  ''  The 
Lord  said  unto  my  Lord,  Sit  Thou  at  My  right  hand, 
until  I  make  Thine  enemies  Thy  footstool."  Yet  the 
Psalmist  is  David  himself,  and  Christ  silenced  the 
Pharisees  by  asking  them  to  explain  the  paradox : 
''  If  David  then  call  Him  Lord,  how  is  He  his  Son  ?  "  * 
Delitzsch  observes  ^'that  in  no  other  psalm  does 
David  distinguish  between  himself  and  Messiah;** 
that  is,  in  all  his  other  predictions  Messiah  is  David 
himself  idealised,  but  in  this  Psalm  He  is  David's  Lord 
as  well  as  his  Son.  The  Psalmist  desires  a  better 
priesthood  and  a  better  kingship. 

These  aspirations  are  alien  to  the  nature  of  Judaism. 
The  Mosaic  dispensation  pointed  indeed  to  a  coming 
priest,  and  the  Jews  might  expect  Messiah  to  be  a 
King.     But  the  Priest  would  be  the  antitype  of  Aaron, 

*  Matt.  xxii.  45. 


vii.  1-28.]     THE  ALLEGORY  OF  MELCHLZEDEK.  115 


and  the  King  would  be  only  the  Son  of  David.  The 
Psalm  speaks  of  a  Priest  after  the  order,  not  of  Aaron, 
but  of  Melchizedek,  and  of  a  King  Who  would  be 
David's  Lord.  To  increase  the  difficulty,  the  Priest 
and  the  King  would  be  one  and  the  same  Person. 

Yet  the  Psalmist's  mysterious  conception  comes  to 
the  surface  now  and  again.  In  the  Book  of  Zechariah 
the  Lord  commands  the  prophet  to  set  crowns  upon 
the  head  of  Joshua  the  high-priest,  and  proclamation 
is  made  *'that  he  shall  be  a  priest  upon  his  throne."* 
The  Maccabsean  princes  are  invested  with  priestly 
garments.  Philo  f  has  actually  anticipated  the  Apostle 
in  his  reference  to  the  union  of  the  priesthood  and 
kingship  in  the  person  of  Melchizedek.  We  need 
not  hesitate  to  say  that  the  Apostle  borrows  his 
allegory  from  Philo,  and  finds  his  conception  of  the 
Priest-King  in  the  religious  insight  of  the  profounder 
men,  or  at  least  in  their  earnest  groping  for  better 
things.  All  this  notwithstanding,  his  use  of  the 
allegory  is  original  and  most  felicitous.  He  adds  an 
idea  fraught  with  consequences  to  his  argument.  For 
the  central  thought  of  the  passage  is  the  endless 
duration  of  the  priesthood  of  Melchizedek.  The  Priest- 
King  is  Priest  for  ever. 

We  have  spoken  of  Melchizedek's  story  as  an  alle- 

*  Zech.  vi.,  II  13.         t  i'6'.  Legg.  Alleg.,  iii.  (vol.  i.,  p.  103,  Mang.). 


ii6  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS. 

gory,  not  to  insinuate  doubt  of  its  historical  truth,  but 
because  it  cannot  be  intended  by  the  Apostle  to  have 
direct  inferential  force.  It  is  an  instance  of  the 
allegorical  interpretation  of  Old  Testament  events, 
similar  to  what  we  constantly  find  in  Philo,  and 
once  at  least  in  St.  Paul.  Allegorical  use  of  history 
has  just  as  much  force  as  a  parable  drawn  from 
nature,  and  comes  just  as  near  a  demonstration  as  the 
types,  if  it  is  so  used  by  an  inspired  prophet  in  the 
Scriptures  of  the  Old  Testament.  This  is  precisely 
the  difference  between  our  author  and  Philo.  The 
latter  invents  allegories  and  lets  his  fancy  run  wild  in 
weaving  new  coincidences,  which  Scripture  does  not 
even  suggest.  But  the  writer  of  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews  keeps  strictly  within  the  lines  of  the  Psalm. 
We  must  also  bear  in  mind  that  the  story  of  Melchi- 
zedek  sets  forth  a  feature  of  Christ's  priesthood  which 
cannot  be  figured  by  a  type  of  the  ordinary  form.  Philo 
infers  from  the  history  of  Melchizedek  the  sovereignty 
of  God.  The  Psalmist  and  the  Apostle  teach  from  it  the 
eternal  duration  of  Christ's  priesthood.  But  how  can 
any  type  represent  such  a  truth  ?  How  can  the  fleeting 
shadow  symbolise  the  notion  of  abiding  substance  ? 
The  type  by  its  very  nature  is  transitory.  That  Christ 
is  Priest  for  ever  can  be  symbolically  taught  only  by 
negations,  by  the  absence  of  a  beginning  and  of  an 
end,  in  some  such  way  as  the  hieroglyphics  represent 


vii.  1-28.]     THE  ALLEGORY  OF  MELCHIZEDEK.  117 

eternity  by  a  line  turning  back  upon  itself.  In  this 
negative  fashion,  Melchizedek  has  been  assimilated 
to  the  Son  of  God.  His  history  was  intentionally  so 
related  by  God's  Spirit  that  the  sacred  writer's  silence 
even  is  significant.  For  Melchizedek  suddenly  appears 
on  the  scene,  and  as  suddenly  vanishes,  never  to  return. 
Hitherto  in  the  Bible  story  every  man's  descent  is 
carefully  noted,  from  the  sons  of  Adam  to  Noah,  from 
Noah  down  to  Abraham.  Now,  however,  for  the  first 
time,  a  man  stands  before  us  of  whose  genealogy  and 
birth  nothing  is  said.  Even  his  death  is  not  men- 
tioned. What  is  known  of  him  wonderfully  helps  the 
allegorical  significance  of  the  intentional  silence  of 
Scripture.  He  is  king  and  priest,  and  the  one  act  of 
his  life  is  to  bestow  his  priestly  benediction  on  the  heir 
of  the  promises.  No  more  appropriate  or  more  striking 
symbol  of  Christ's  priesthood  can  be  imagined. 

His  name  even  is  symbolical.  He  is  ''  King  of 
righteousness."  By  a  happy  coincidence,  the  name 
of  his  city  is  no  less  expressive  of  the  truth  to  be 
represented.  He  is  King  of  Salem,  which  means 
"  King  of  peace."  The  two  notions  of  righteousness 
and  peace  combined  make  up  the  idea  of  priesthood. 
Righteousness  without  peace  punishes  the  transgressor. 
Peace  without  righteousness  condones  the  transgression. 
The  kingship  of  Melchizedek,  it  appears,  involves  that 
he  is  priest. 


Ii8  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS. 

This  king-priest  is  a  monotheist,  though  he  is  not 
of  the  family  of  Abraham.  He  is  even  priest  of  the 
Most  High  God;  though  he  is  outside  the  pale  of  the 
priesthood  afterwards  founded  in  the  line  of  Aaron. 
Judaism,  therefore,  enjoys  no  monopoly  of  truth.  As 
St.  Paul  argues  that  the  promise  is  independent  of  the 
Law,  because  it  was  given  four  hundred  years  before,  so 
our  author  hints  at  the  existence  of  a  priesthood  dis- 
tinct from  the  Levitical.  What  existed  before  Aaron 
may  also  survive  him. 

Further,  these  two  men,  Melchizedek  and  Abraham, 
were  mutually  drawn  each  to  the  other  by  the  force  of 
their  common  piety.  Melchizedek  went  out  to  meet 
Abraham  on  his  return  from  the  slaughter  of  the  kings, 
apparently  not  because  he  was  indebted  to  him  for  his 
life  and  the  safety  of  his  city  (for  the  kings  had  gone 
their  way  as  far  as  Dan  after  pillaging  the  Cities  of  the 
Plain),  but  because  he  felt  a  strong  impulse  to  bestow 
his  blessing  on  the  man  of  faith.  He  met  him,  not  as 
king,  but  as  priest.  Would  it  be  too  fanciful  to  con- 
jecture that  Abraham  had  that  mysterious  power,  which 
some  men  possess  and  some  do  not,  of  attracting  to 
himself  and  becoming  a  centre,  around  which  others 
almost  unconsciously  gather  ?  It  is  suggested  by  his 
entire  history.  Whether  it  was  so  or  not,  Melchizedek 
blessed  him,  and  Abraham  accepted  the  blessing,  and 
acknowledged  its  priestly  character  by  giving  him  the 


vii.  1-28.]     THE  ALLEGORY  OF  MELCHIZEDEIC.  119 

priest's  portion,  the  tenth  of  the  best  spoils.  How 
great  must  this  man  have  been,  who  blessed  even 
Abraham,  and  to  whom  Abraham,  the  patriarch,  paid 
even  the  tenth  !  But  the  less  is  blessed  of  the  greater. 
In  Abraham  the  Levitical  priesthood  itself  may  be  said 
to  acknowledge  the  superiority  of  Melchizedek.* 

Wherein  lay  his  greatness  ?  He  was  not  in  the 
priestly  line.  Neither  do  we  read  that  he  was  appointed 
of  God.  Yet  no  man  taketh  this  honour  unto  himself. 
God  had  made  him  king  and  priest  by  conferring  upon 
him  the  gift  of  innate  spiritual  greatness.  He  was  one 
of  nature's  kings,  born  to  rule,  not  because  he  was  his 
father's  son,  but  because  he  had  a  great  soul.  It  is 
not  in  record  that  he  bequeathed  to  his  race  a  great 
idea.  He  created  no  school,  and  had  no  following.  So 
seldom  is  mention  made  of  him  in  the  Old  Testament, 
that  the  Psalmist's  passing  reference  to  his  name 
attracts  the  Apostle's  special  notice.  He  became  a 
priest  in  virtue  of  what  he  was  as  man.  His  authority 
as  king  sprang  from  character. 

Such  men  appear  on  earth  now  and  again.  But 
they  are  never  accounted  for.  All  we  can  say  of  them 
is  that  they  have  neither  father  nor  mother  nor  genea- 
logy. They  resemble  those  who  are  born  of  the  Spirit, 
of  whom   we   know   neither   whence   they  come   nor 

*  Chap.  vii.  6—10. 


120  THE  EPISTLE    TO    THE  HEBREWS. 

whither  they  go.  It  is  only  from  the  greatest  one 
among  these  kings  and  priests  of  men  that  the  veil  is 
lifted.  In  Him  we  see  the  Son  of  God.  In  Christ  we 
recognise  the  ideal  greatness  of  sheer  personality,  and 
we  at  once  say  of  all  the  others,  as  the  Apostle  says  of 
Melchizedek,  that  they  have  been  "made  like,"  not 
unto  ancestors  or  predecessors,  but  unto  Him  Who  is 
Himself  like  His  Divine  Father. 

Such  priests  remain  priests  for  ever.  They  live  on 
by  the  vitality  of  their  priesthood.  They  have  no  be- 
ginning of  days  or  end  of  life.  They  have  never  been 
set  apart  with  outward  ritual  to  an  official  distinction, 
marked  by  days  and  years.  Their  acts  are  not  cere- 
monial, and  wait  not  on  the  calendar.  They  bless 
men,  and  the  blessing  abides.  They  pray,  and  the 
prayer  dies  not.  If  their  prayer  lives  for  ever,  can  we 
suppose  that  they  themselves  pass  away  ?  The  king- 
priest  is  heir  of  immortality,  whoever  else  may  perish. 
He  at  least  has  the  power  of  an  endless  life.  If  he 
dies  in  the  flesh,  he  lives  on  in  the  spirit.  An  eternal 
heaven  must  be  found  or  made  for  such  men  with  God. 

Now  this  is  the  gist  and  kernel  of  the  Apostle's 
beautiful  allegory.  The  argument  points  to  the  Son 
of  God,  and  leads  up  to  the  conception  of  His  eternal 
priesthood  in  the  sanctuary  of  heaven.  Let  us  see  how 
the  parable  is  interpreted  and  applied. 

That  Jesus  is  a  great  High-priest  has  been  proved  by 


vii.  1-28.]     THE  ALLEGORY  OF  MELCHIZEDEK.  121 

argument  after  argument  from  the  beginning  of  the 
Epistle.  But  this  is  not  enough  to  show  that  the 
priesthood  after  the  order  of  Aaron  has  passed  away. 
The  Hebrew  Christians  may  still  maintain  that  the 
Messiah  perfected  the  Aaronic  priesthood  and  added  to 
it  the  glory  of  kingship.  Transference  of  the  priest- 
hood must  be  proved;  and  it  is  symbolised  in  the 
history  of  Melchizedek.  But  transference  of  the  priest- 
hood involves  much  more  than  v/hat  has  hitherto  been 
mentioned.  It  implies,  not  merely  that  the  priesthood 
after  the  order  of  Aaron  has  come  to  an  end,  but  that 
the  entire  dispensation  of  law,  the  old  covenant,  is 
replaced  by  a  new  covenant  and  a  better  one,  inas- 
much as  the  Law  was  erected  on  the  foundation*  of  the 
priesthood.  It  was  a  religious  economy.  The  funda- 
mental conceptions  of  the  religion  were  guilt  and 
forgiveness,  f  The  essential  fact  of  the  dispensation 
was  sacrifice  offered  for  the  sinner  to  God  by  a  priest. 
The  priesthood  was  the  article  of  a  standing  or  a  falling 
Church  under  the  Old  Testament.  Change  of  the 
priesthood  of  itself  abrogates  the  covenant. 

What,  then,  is  the  truth  in  this  matter  ?  Has  the 
priesthood  been  transferred  ?  Let  the  story  of 
Melchizedek,  interpreted  by  the  inspired  Psalmist, 
supply  the  answer. 

*  eV  a))r^s  (vii.  14).  f  Cf.  chnp.  vi.  I. 


122  THE  EPISTLE    TO   THE  HEBREWS, 

Firsty  Jesus  sprang  from  the  royal  tribe  of  Judah, 
not  from  the  sacerdotal  tribe  of  Levi.  The  Apostle 
intentionally  uses  a  term  *  that  glances  at  the  prophet 
Zechariah's  prediction  concerning  Him  Who  shall 
arise  as  the  dawn,  and  be  a  Priest  upon  His  throne. 
We  shall,  therefore,  entitle  Him  "  Lord,"  and  say  that 
'*  our  Lord"  has  risen  out  of  Judah.t  He  is  Lord  and 
King  by  right  of  birth.  But  this  circumstance,  that  He 
belongs  to  the  tribe  of  Judah,  hints,  to  say  the  least, 
at  a  transference  of  the  priesthood.  For  Moses  said 
nothing  of  this  tribe  in  reference  to  priests,  however 
great  it  became  in  its  kings.  The  kingship  of  our  Lord 
is  foreshadowed  in  Melchizedek. 

Secondj  it  is  still  more  evident  that  the  Aaronic 
priesthood  has  been  set  aside  if  we  recall  another 
feature  in  the  allegory  of  Melchizedek.  For  Jesus  is 
like  Melchizedek  as  Priest,  not  as  King  only.  The 
priesthood  of  Melchizedek  sprang  from  the  man's 
inherent  greatness.  How  much  more  is  it  true  of 
Jesus  Christ  that  His  greatness  =  is  personal !  He 
became  what  He  is,  not  by  force  of  law,  which  could 
create  only  an  external,  carnal  commandment,  but  by 
innate  power,  in  virtue  of  which  He  will  live  on  and 


*  'AvaTeraXKev.     Cf.  Zech.  vi.  12,  'AvaroXri,  dawn.     The  citation,  as 
usual,  is  from  the  Septuagint. 
t  Chap.  vii.  14. 


vii.  1-28.]     THE  ALLEGORY  OF  MELCHIZEDEK.  123 

His  life  will  be  indestructible.*  The  commandment 
that  constituted  Aaron  priest  has  not  indeed  been 
violently  abrogated  ;  but  it  has  been  thrust  aside  in 
consequence  of  its  own  inner  feebleness  and  useless- 
ness.f  That  it  has  been  weak  and  unprofitable  to 
men  is  evident  from  the  inability  of  the  Law,  as  a 
system  erected  upon  that  priesthood,  to  satisfy  con- 
science.l  Yet  this  carnal,  decayed  priesthood  was 
permitted  to  linger  on  and  work  itself  out.  The  better 
hope,  through  which  w^e  do  actually  come  near  unto 
God,  did  not  forcibly  put  an  end  to  it,  but  was  super- 
added. §  Christ  never  formally  abolished  the  old 
covenant.  We  cannot  date  its  extinction.  We  must 
not  say  that  it  ceased  to  exist  when  the  Supper  was 
instituted,  or  when  the  true  Passover  was  slain,  or 
when  the  Spirit  descended.  The  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews  is  intended  to  awaken  men  to  the  fact  that 
it  is  gone.  They  can  hardly  realise  that  it  is  dead. 
It  has  been  lost,  like  the  light  of  a  star,  in  the  spread- 
ing "  dawn  "  of  day.  The  sun  of  that  eternal  day  is 
the  infinitely  great  personality  of  Jesus  Christ,  born 
a  crownless  King ;  crowned  at  His  death,  but  with 
thorns.     Yet   what    mighty   power    He   has   wielded ! 


*  Chap.  vii.  16. 

f  ddeTTjais,  a  setting  aside  (chap.  vii.  18). 

J  ovhev  ereXetuxrej'  (vii.  19). 


124  THE  EPISTLE    TO    THE   HEBREWS. 

The  Galilaean  has  conquered.  Since  He  has  passed 
through  the  heavens  from  the  eyes  of  men,  thousands 
in  every  age  have  been  ready  to  die  for  Him.  Even 
to-day  the  Christianity  of  the  greatest  part  of  His 
follov^^ers  consists  more  in  profound  loyalty  to  a 
personal  King  than  in  any  intellectual  comprehension 
of  the  Teacher's  dogmatic  system.  Such  kingly  power 
cannot  perish.  Untouched  by  the  downfall  of  king- 
doms and  the  revolutions  of  thought,  such  a  King  will 
sit  upon  His  moral  throne  from  age  to  age,  yesterday 
and  to-day  the  same,  and  for  ever. 

Thirds  the  entire  system  or  covenant  based  on  the 
Aaronic  priesthood  has  passed  away  and  given  place  to 
a  better  covenant, — better  in  proportion  to  the  firmer 
foundation  on  which  the  priesthood  of  Jesus  rests.* 
Beyond  question,  the  promises  of  God  were  steadfast. 
But  men  could  not  realise  the  glorious  hope  of  their 
fulfilment,  and  that  for  two  reasons.  First,  difficult 
conditions  were  imposed  on  faUible  men.  The 
worshipper  might  transgress  in  many  points  of  ritual. 
His  mediator,  the  priest,  might  err  where  error  would 
be  fatal  to  the  result.  Worshipper  and  priest,  if  they 
were  thoughtful  and  pious  men,  would  be  haunted  with 
the  dread  of  having  done  WTong  they  knew  not  how 
or  where,  and  be  filled  with  dark  forebodings.     Confi- 

*  Chap.  vii.  20—22. 


vii.i-2S.]      THE  ALLEGORY  OF  MELCHIZEDEK.  125 

dence,  especially  full  assurance,  was  not  to  be  thought 
of.  Second,  Christ  found  it  necessary  to  urge  His 
disciples  to  believe  in  God.  The  misery  of  distrusting 
God  Himself  exists.  Men  think  that  He  is  such  as 
they  are  ;  and,  as  they  do  not  beUeve  in  themselves, 
their  faith  in  God  is  a  reed  shaken  by  the  v^rind.  These 
wants  were  not  adequately  met  by  the  old  covenant. 
The  conditions  imposed  perplexed  men,  and  the  revela- 
tion of  God's  moral  character  and  Fatherhood  was  not 
sufficiently  clear  to  rem.ove  distrust.  The  Apostle 
directs  attention  to  the  strange  absence  of  any  swearing 
of  an  oath  on  the  part  of  God  when  He  instituted  the 
Aaronic  priesthood,  or  on  the  part  of  the  priest  at  his 
consecration.  Yet  the  kingship  was  confirmed  by  oath 
to  David.  In  the  new  covenant,  on  the  other  hand,  all 
such  fears  may  be  dismissed.  For  the  only  condition 
imposed  is  faith.  In  order  to  make  faith  easy  and 
inspire  men  with  courage,  God  appoints  a  Surety  *  for 
Himself.  He  offers  His  Son  as  Hostage,  and  thus 
guarantees  the  fulfilment  of  His  promise.  As  the  Man 
Jesus,  the  Son  of  God  was  delivered  into  the  hands  of 
men.  "  Of  the  better  covenant  Jesus  is  the  Surety." 
This  will  explain  a  word  in  the  sixth  chapter,  which  we 
were  compelled  at  the  time  to  put  aside.  For  it  is 
there  said  that  God  ''  mediated  "  with  an  oath.f     We 


^-yVOS.  t    (I^^<^IT€V<J€V    (vi.     17) 


126  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS. 

now  understand  that  this  means  the  appointment  of 
Christ  to  be  Surety  of  the  fulfilment  of  God's  promises. 
The  old  covenant  could  offer  no  guarantee.  It  is  true 
that  it  was  ordained  in  the  hands  of  a  mediator.  But 
it  is  also  true  that  the  mediator  was  no  surety,  inas- 
much as  those  priests  were  made  without  an  oath. 
Christ  has  been  made  Priest  with  an  oath.  Therefore 
He  is,  as  Jesus,  the  Surety  of  a  better  covenant.  In 
what  respects  the  covenant  is  better,  the  Apostle  will 
soon  tell  us.  For  the  present,  we  only  know  that  the 
foundation  is  stronger  in  proportion  as  the  oath  of 
God  reveals  more  fully  His  sincerity  and  love,  and 
renders  it  an  easier  thing  for  men  laden  with  guilt  to 
trust  the  promise. 

Before  we  dismiss  the  subject,  it  may  be  well  to 
remind  the  reader  that  this  mention  of  a  Surety  by  our 
author  is  the  locus  classicus  of  the  Federalist  school  of 
divines.  Cocceius  and  his  followers  present  the  whole 
range  of  theological  doctrines  under  the  form  of  cove- 
nant. They  explain  the  words  "Surety  of  a  better 
covenant "  to  mean  that  Christ  is  appointed  by  God 
to  be  a  Surety  on  behalf  of  men,  not  on  behalf  of 
God.  The  course  of  thought  in  the  passage  is,  we 
think,  decisive  against  this  interpretation.  At  the  same 
time,  we  readily  admit  that  their  doctrine  is  a  just 
theological  inference  from  the  passage.  If  God  swears 
that  His  gracipus  purposes  will  be  fulfilled  and  ordains 


vii.  1-28,]     THE  ALLEGORY  OF  MELCHIZEDEK.  127 

Jesus  to  be  His  Surety  to  men,  and  if  also  the  fulfil- 
ment of  the  Divine  promise  depends  on  the  fulfilment  of 
certain  conditions  on  the  part  of  men,  the  oath  of  God 
will  involve  His  enabling  men  to  fulfil  those  conditions, 
and  the  Surety  will  become  in  eventual  fact  a  Surety 
on  behalf  of  men.  But  this  is  only  an  inference.  It 
is  not  the  meaning  of  the  Apostle's  words,  who  only 
speaks  of  the  Surety  on  the  part  of  God.  The  validity 
of  the  inference  now  mentioned  depends  on  other  con- 
siderations extraneous  to  this  passage.  With  those 
considerations,  therefore,  we  have  at  present  nothing 
to  do. 

Fourth^  the  climax  of  the  argument  is  reached  when 
the  Apostle  infers  the  endless  duration  of  Christ's 
one  priesthood.*  The  number  of  men  who  had  been 
successively  high-priests  of  the  old  covenant  increased 
from  age  to  age.  Dying  one  after  another,  they 
were  prevented  from  continuing  as  high-priests.  But 
Melchizedek  had  no  successor;  and  the  Jews  them- 
selves admitted  that  the  Christ  would  abide  for  ever. 
The  ascending  argument  of  the  Apostle  proves  that  He 
ever  liveth,  and  has,  therefore,  an  immutable  priesthood. 
For,  first,  He  is  of  the  royal  tribe,  and  the  oath  of  God 
to  David  guarantees  that  of  his  kingdom  there  shall  be 
no  end.    Again,  in  the  greatness  of  His  personality.  He 

*  Chap.  vii.  23 — 25. 


128  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS. 

is  endowed  with  the  power  of  an  endless  hfe.  More- 
over, as  Priest  He  has  been  established  in  His  office  by 
oath.     He  is,  therefore.  Priest  for  ever. 

A  question  suggests  itself.  Why  is  the  endless  life  of 
one  high-priest  more  effective  than  a  succession,  con- 
ceivably an  endless  succession,  of  high-priests  ?  The 
eternal  priesthood  involves  two  distinct,  but  mutually 
dependent,  conceptions, — power  to  save  and  inter- 
cession. In  the  case  of  any  man,  to  live  for  ever 
means  power.  Even  the  body  of  our  humiliation  will 
be  raised  in  power.  Can  the  spirit,  therefore,  in  the 
risen  life,  its  own  native  home,  be  subject  to  weakness  ? 
What,  then,  shall  we  say  of  the  risen  and  glorified 
Christ?  The  difference  between  Him  and  the  high- 
priests  of  earth  is  like  the  difference  between  the  body 
that  is  raised  and  the  body  that  dies.  In  Aaron 
priesthood  is  sown  in  corruption,  dishonour,  weakness ; 
in  Christ  priesthood  is  raised  in  incorruption,  in  glory, 
in  power.  In  Aaron  it  is  sown  a  natural  priesthood ; 
in  Christ  it  is  raised  a  spiritual  priesthood.  It  must  be 
that  the  High-priest  in  heaven  has  power  to  save  con- 
tinually and  completely.  Whenever  help  is  needed.  He 
is  living.  But  He  ever  lives  that  He  may  intercede.* 
Apart  from  intercession  on  behalf  of  men.  His  power  is 
not   moral.     It  has   no  greatness,  or  joy,  or  meaning. 

*  Chap,  vii,  25, 


vii.  1-28.]      THE  ALLEGORY  OF  MELCHIZEDEK.  129 


Intercession  is  the  moral  content  of  His  powerful 
existence.  Whenever  help  is  needed,  He  is  living,  and 
is  mighty  *  to  save  from  sin,  to  rescue  from  death,  to 
deliver  from  its  fear. 

To  prove   that  Christ's  eternal  priesthood  involves 
power   and  intercession    is    the   purpose   of  the   next 
verses. t      Such  a  High-priest,    powerful  to  save  and 
ever  living  to  intercede,  is  the  only  One  befitting  us, 
who  are  at  once  helpless  and   guilty.      The   Apostle 
triumphantly  unfolds  the  glory  of  this  conception  of  a 
high-priest.      He  means  Christ.     But  he  is  too  trium- 
phant to  name  Him.     ^^  Such  a  high-priest  befits  us." 
The  power  of  His   heavenly  life  implies  the  highest 
development  of  moral  condition.     He  will  address  God 
with  holy  reverence.^     He  will  succour    men  without 
a  tinge  of  malice,  §  which  is  but  another  way  of  saying 
that  He  wishes  them  well  from  the  depth  of  His  heart. 
He  must  not  be  sullied  by  a  spot  of  moral  defilement  || 
(for  purity  only  can  face  God  or  love  men).     He  must 
be  set  apart  for  His  lofty  function  from  the  sinners  for 
whom  He  intercedes.     He  must  enter  the  true  holiest 
place  and  stand  in  awful  solitariness  above  the  heavens 
of  worlds  and  angels  in  the  immediate  presence  of  God. 
Further,  He  must  not  be  under  the  necessity  of  leaving 


*  dvyaraif  the  emphatic  word  in  the  passage.        f  Chap.  vii.  26. 
;j:  6<nos,  §  A/ca/coj.  Il  d/xiavTos. 

9 


130  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS, 


the  holiest  place  to  renew  His  sacrifice,  as  the  high- 
priests  of  the  old  covenant  had  need  to  offer,  through 
the  priests,  new  sacrifices  every  day  through  the  year 
for  themselves  and  for  the  people — yea,  for  themselves 
first,  then  for  the  people — before  they  dared  re-enter 
within  the  veil  *  For  Christ  offered  Himself.  Such 
a  sacrifice,  once  offered,  was  sufficient  for  ever. 

To  sum  up.t  The  Law  appoints  men  high-priests; 
the  word,  which  God  has  spoken  unto  us  in  His  Son, 
appoints  the  Son  Himself  High-priest.  The  Law 
appoints  men  high-priests  in  their  weakness ;  the 
word  appoints  the  Son  in  His  final  and  complete 
attainment  of  all  perfection.  But  the  Law  will  yield  to 
the  word.  For  the  word,  which  had  gone  before  the 
Law  in  the  promise  made  to  Abraham,  was  not  super- 
seded by  the  Law,  but  came  also  after  it  in  the  stronger 
form  of  an  oath,  of  which  the  old  covenant  knew 
nothing. 

♦  Chap.  vii.  27.  f  Chap,  vii,  28. 


THE   NEW    COVENANT, 


"  Now  in  the  things  which  we  are  saying  the  chief  point  zs  this ." 
We  have  such  a  High -priest,  Who  sat  down  on  the  right  hand  of  the 
throne  of  the  Majesty  in  the  heavens,  a  Minister  of  the  sanctuary,  and 
of  the  true  tabernacle,  which  the  Lord  pitched,  not  man.  For  every 
high-priest  is  appointed  to  offer  both  gifts  and  sacrifices  :  wherefore  it 
is  necessary  that  this  High-priest  also  have  somewhat  to  offer.  Now 
if  He  were  on  earth,  He  would  not  be  a  Priest  at  all,  seeing  there  are 
those  who  offer  the  gifts  according  to  the  Law  ;  who  serve  that  which  is 
a  copy  and  shadow  of  the  heavenly  things,  even  as  Moses  is  warned 
of  God  when  he  is  about  to  make  the  tabernacle  :  for,  See,  saith  He, 
that  thou  make  all  things  according  to  the  pattern  that  was  showed  thee 
in  the  mount.  But  now  hath  He  obtained  a  ministry  the  more  excellent, 
by  how  much  also  He  is  the  Mediator  of  a  better  covenant,  which  hath 
been  enacted  upon  better  promises." — Heb.  viii.  i — 6  (R.V.). 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

THE    NEW    COVENANT, 

'npHE  Apostle  has  interpreted  the  beautiful  story  of 
-^  Melchizedek  with  wonderful  feHcity  and  force. 
The  point  of  the  whole  Epistle,  he  now  tells  us,  lies 
there.  He  has  brought  forth  the  headstone  of  the 
corner,  the  keystone  of  the  arch.*  It  is,  in  short,  that 
we  have  such  a  High-priest.  Country,  holy  city,  ark 
of  the  covenant,  all  are  lost.  But  if  we  have  the  High- 
priest,  all  are  restored  to  us  in  a  better  and  more 
enduring  form.  Jesus  is  the  High-priest  and  King. 
He  has  taken  His  seat  once  for  all,  as  King,  on  the 
right  hand  of  the^ throne  of  the  Majesty,  and,  as  Priest, 
is  also  Minister  of  the  sanctuary  and  of  the  true 
tabernacle.  The  indefinite  and  somewhat  unusual  term 
*' minister"  or  ''public  servant "  f  is  intentionally 
chosen,  partly  to  emphasise  the  contrast  between 
Christ's  kingly  dignity  and  His  priestly  service,  partly 
because  the  author  wishes  to  explain  at  greater  length 

*  /ce^dXatoJ/  (viii.  l).  f  XetTou/97os  (viii.  2). 


134  THE  EPISTLE    TO   THE  HEBREWS. 

in  what  Christ's  actual  work  as  High-priest  in  heaven 
consists.  For  Christ's  heavenly  glory  is  a  life  of 
service,  not  of  selfish  gratification..  Every  high-priest 
serves.*  He  is  appointed  for  no  other  purpose  than 
to  offer  gifts  and  sacrifices.  The  Apostle's  readers 
admitted  that  Christ  was  High-priest.  But  they  were 
forgetting  that,  as  such,  He  too  must  necessarily 
minister  and  have  something  which  He  can  ofier.  Our 
theology  is  still  in  Hke  danger.  We  are  sometimes 
prone  to  regard  Christ's  life  in  heaven  as  only  a  state 
of  exaltation  and  power,  and,  consequently,  to  speak 
more  of  the  saints'  happiness  than  of  their  service.  It 
is  the  natural  result  of  superficial  theories  of  the 
Atonement  that  little  practical  use  is  made  by  many 
Christians  of  the  truth  of  Christ's  priestly  intercession. 
The  debt  has  been  paid,  the  debtor  discharged,  and  the 
transaction  ended.  Christ's  present  activity  towards 
God  is  acknowledged  and — neglected.  Protestants  are 
confirmed  in  this  baneful  worldliness.of  conception  by 
their  just  desire  to  keep  at  a  safe  distance  from  the 
error  in  the  opposite  extreme  :  that  Christ  presents  to 
God  the  Church's  sacrifices  of  the  mass. 

The  truth  lies  midway  between  two  errors.  On  the 
one  hand,  Christ's  intercession  is  not  itself  the  making 
or  constituting  of  a  sacrifice;    on  the  other,  it  is  not 

*  Chap.  viii.  3. 


viii.  1-6.]  THE  NEW  COVENANT. 


135 


mere  pleading  and  prayer.  The  sacrifice  was  made 
and  completed  on  the  Cress,  as  the  victims  were  slain 
in  the  outer  court.  But  it  was  through  the  blood  of 
those  victims  the  high-priest  had  authority  to  enter  the 
holiest  place;  and  when  he  had  entered,  he  must 
sprinkle  the  warm  blood,  and  so  present  the  sacrifice 
to  God.  Similarly  Christ  must  enter  a  sanctuary  in 
order  to  present  the  sacrifice  slain  on  Calvary.  The 
words  of  the  Apostle  John,  ^'  We  have  an  Advocate  with 
the  Father,"  express  only  one  side  of  the  truth.  But 
he  adds  the  other  side  of  the  conception  in  the  same 
verse,  "  And  He  is  the  propitiation,"  which  is  a  very 
different  thing  from  saying,  ^' His  death  was  the 
propitiation."  But  what  sanctuary  shall  He  enter? 
He  could  not  approach  the  hoHest  place  in  the  earthly 
temple.  For  if  He  were  on  earth,  He  would  not  be 
a  Priest  at  all,  seeing  there  are  men  ordained  by  the 
Law  to  offer  the  appointed  gifts  on  earth.*  The  Jewish 
priests  have  satisfied  and  exhausted  the  idea  of  an 
earthly  priesthood.  Even  Melchizedek  could  not  found 
an  order.  If  he  may  be  regarded  as  an  attempt  to 
acclimatise  on  earth  the  priesthood  of  personal  greatness, 
the  attempt  was  a  failure.  It  always  fails,  though  it 
is  always  renewed.  On  earth  there  can  be  no  order 
of  goodness.     When  a  great  saint  appears  among  men, 

*  Chap.  viii.  4. 


136  THE  EPISTLE    TO    THE  HEBREWS, 

he  is  but  a  bird  of  passage,  and  is  not  to  be  found, 
because  God  has  translated  him.  If  it  is  so  of  His 
saints,  what  of  Christ  ?  Christ  on  earth  through  the 
ages  ?  Impossible  !  And  what  is  impossible  to-day 
will  be  equally  inconceivable  at  any  point  of  time  in 
the  future.  A  correct  conception  of  Christ's  priestly 
•ntercession  is  inconsistent  with  the  dream  of  a  reign 
of  Christ  on  earth.  It  may,  or  may  not,  be  consistent 
with  His  kingly  office.  But  His  priesthood  forbids. 
We  infer  that  Christ  has  transformed  the  heaven  of 
glory  into  the  hoHest  place  of  a  temple,  and  the  throne 
of  God  into  a  shrine  before  which  He,  as  High-priest, 
presents  His  sacrifice. 

The  Jewish  priesthood  itself  teaches  the  existence  of 
a  heavenly  sanctuary.*  All  the  arrangements  of  taber- 
nacle and  ritual  were  made  after  a  pattern  shown  to 
Moses  on  Mount  Sinai.  The  priests,  in  the  tabernacle 
and  through  their  ritual,  ministered  to  the  holiest  place, 
as  the  visible  image  and  outline  of  the  real  holiest  place 
— that  is,  heaven — which  the  Lord  pitched,  not  man. 

Now  Christ's  more  excellent  ministry  as  High-priest 
in  heaven  carries  in  its  bosom  all  that  the  Apostle 
contends  for, — the  establishment  of  a  new  covenant 
which  has  set  aside  for  ever  the  covenant  of  the  Law. 
"  He  has  obtained  a  ministry  the  more  excellent  by 

♦  Chap.  viii.  5. 


viii.  1-6.]  THE  NEW  COVENANT.  137 

how  much  He  is  the  Mediator  of  a  better  covenant."  * 
These  words  contain  in  a  nutshell  the  entire  argument, 
or  series  of  arguments,  that  extends  from  the  sixth 
verse  of  the  eighth  chapter  to  the  eighteenth  verse  of 
the  tenth.  The  course  of  thought  may  be  divided  as 
follows : — 

1.  That  the  Lord  intends  to  establish  a  new  cove- 
nant is  first  of  all  shown  by  a  citation  from  the  prophet 
Jeremiah  (viii.  7—  1 3). 

2.  A  description  of  the  tabernacle  and  of  the  en- 
trance of  the  priests  and  high-priests  into  it  teaches 
that  the  way  into  the  holiest  place  was  not  yet  open  to 
men.  This  is  contrasted  with  the  entering  of  Christ 
into  heaven  through  His  own  blood,  which  proves  that 
He  has  obtained  for  us  an  eternal  redemption  and  is 
Mediator  of  a  new  covenant,  founded  on  His  death 
(ix.  I— 18). 

3.  The  frequent  entering  of  the  high-priest  into  the 
holiest  place  is  contrasted  with  the  one  death  of  Christ 
and  His  entering  heaven  once.  This  proves  the  power 
of  His  sacrifice  and  intercession  to  bring  in  the  better 
covenant  and  set  aside  the  former  one  (ix.  25 — x.  18). 

I.  A  New  Covenant  promised  through  Jeremiah. 

**  For  if  that  first  covenant  had  been  faultless,  then  would  no  place 
have  been  sought  for  a  second.     For  finding  fault  with  them,  He  saith, 

*  Chap.  viii.  6. 


138  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS. 

Behold,  the  days  come,   saith  the  Lord, 

That  I  vv-ill  make  a  new  covenant  with  the  house  of  Israel  and 
with  the  house  of  Judah  ; 

Not  according  to  the  covenant  that  I  made  with  their  fathers 

In  the  day  that  I  took  them  by  the  hand  to  lead  them  forth  out 
of  the  land  of  Egypt ; 

For  they  continued  not  in  My  covenant, 

And  I  regarded  them  not,  saith  the  Lord. 

For  this  is  the  covenant  that  I  will  make  with  the  house  of  Israel 

After  those  days,  saith  the  Lord  ; 

I  will  put  My  laws  into  their  mind, 

And  on  their  heart  also  will  I  write  them  : 

And  I  will  be  to  them  a  God, 

And  they  shall  be  to  Me  a  people  : 

And  they  shall  not  teach  every  man  his  fellow-citizen, 

And  every  man  his  brother,  saying,  Know  the  Lord  : 

For  all  shall  know  Me, 

From  the  least  to  the  greatest  of  them. 

For  I  will  be  merciful  to  their  iniquities, 

And  their  sins  will  I  remember  no  more. 
In  that  He  saith,  A  new  covenant,  He  hath  made  the  first  old.     But 
that  which  is  becoming  old  and  waxeth  aged  is  nigh  unto  vanishing 
away." — Heb.  viii.  7 — 13  (R.V.), 

The  more  spiritual  men  under  the  dispensation  of 
law  anticipated  a  new  and  better  era.  The  Psalmist 
had  spoken  of  another  day,  and  prophesied  of  the 
appearance  of  a  Priest  after  the  order  of  Melchizedek 
and  a  Son  of  David  Who  would  also  be  David's  Lord. 
But  Jeremiah  is  very  bold,  and  says  *  that  the  covenant 
itself  on  which  the  hope  of  his  nation  hangs  will  pass 
away,   and   his   dream  of  a  more  spiritual  covenant, 

*Jer.  xxxi.  31—34. 


viii.  7-13.]  THE  NEW  COVENANT.  139 

established  on  better  promises,  will  at  some  distant  day 
come  true.  It  is  well  to  bear  in  mind  that  this  discon- 
tent with  the  present  order  lodged  in  the  hearts,  not  of 
the  worst,  but  of  the  best  and  greatest,  sons  of  Judaism. 
It  was  the  salt  of  their  character,  the  life  of  their 
inspiration,  the  message  of  their  prophecy.  In  days  of 
national  distress  and  despair,  this  star  shone  the 
brighter  for  the  darkness.  The  terrible  shame  of  the 
Captivity  and  the  profound  agony  that  followed  it  were 
lit  up  with  the  glorious  vision  of  a  better  future  in  store 
for  the  people  of  God.  On  the  quivering  lips  of  the 
prophet  that  "  sat  weeping,"  as  he  is  described  in  the 
Septuagint,*  this  strong  hope  found  utterance.  He 
had  washed  the  dust  of  worldliness  from  his  eyes  with 
tears,  and,  therefore,  saw  more  clearly  than  the  men  of 
his  time  the  threatened  downfall  of  Judah  and  the 
bright  dawn  beyond.  In  reading  his  prophecy  of  the 
new  covenant  we  almost  cease  to  wonder  that  some 
persons  thought  Jesus  was  Jeremiah  risen  from  the 
dead.  The  prophet's  words  have  the  same  ring  of 
undaunted  cheerfulness,  of  intense  compassion,  of 
prophetic  faith ;  and  Christ,  as  well  as  the  Apostle, 
cites  His  prediction  that  all  shall  be  taught  of  God.f 
Jeremiah  blames  the  people. |    But  the  Apostle  infers 


*  Lamentations,  Preface.  f  John  vi.  45. 

\  a.vTov%  (viii.  8). 


140  THE  EPISTLE   TO  THE  HEBREWS. 

that  the  covenant  itself  was  not  faultless,  inasmuch  as 
the  prophet  seeks,  in  his  censure  of  the  people,  to  make 
room  for  another  covenant.  We  have  already  been  told 
that  there  was  on  earth  no  room  for  the  priesthood  of 
Christ.*  Similarly,  in  the  sphere  of  earthly  nationality, 
there  was  no  room  for  a  covenant  other  than  that  which 
God  had  made  with  His  people  Israel  when  He  brought 
them  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt.  But  the  earthly  priest- 
hood could  not  give  efficacy  to  its  ministering,  and  thus 
room  is  found  for  a  heavenly  priesthood.  So  also,  the 
covenant  on  which  the  earthly  priesthood  rested  being 
inadequate,  the  prophet  makes  room  for  the  introduction 
of  a  new  and  better  covenant. 

<  Now  the  peculiar  character  of  the  old  covenant  was 
that  it  dealt  with  men  in  the  aggregate  which  we  call 
the  nation.  NationaUsm  is  the  distinctive  feature  of  the 
old  world,  within  the  precincts  of  Judaism  and  among 
the  peoples  of  heathendom.  Even  the  prophets  could 
not  see  the  spiritual  truth,  which  they  themselves  fore- 
told, except  through  the  medium  of  nationality.  The 
Messiah  was  the  national  king  ideahsed,  even  when  He 
was  a  Man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted  with  grief.  In 
the  passage  before  us  the  prophet  Jeremiah  speaks  of 
God's  promise  to  write  His  law  on  the  heart  as  made  to 
the  house  of  Judah  and  the  house  of  Israel,  as  if  he 

*  Chap.  viii.  4. 


viii.  7-13.]  THE  NEW  COVENANT.  141 

were  not  aware  that,  in  so  speaking,  he  was  really  con-  ^ 
tradicting  himself.  For  the  blessing  promised  was  a 
spiritual  and,  consequently,  personal  one,  with  which 
nationality  cannot  possibly  have  any  sort  of  connection. 
It  is  a  matter  of  profound  joy  to  every  lover  of  his 
people  to  witness  and  share  in  the  uprising  of  a  national 
consciousness.  Some  among  us  are  beginning  to  know 
now  for  the  first  time  that  a  national  ideal  is  possible 
in  thought,  and  sentiment,  and  life.  But  there  must  not, 
cannot,  be  a  nationality  in  religion.  A  moral  law  in 
the  heart  does  not  recognise  the  quality  of  the  blood 
that  circulates  through.  This  truth  the  prophets  strove 
to  utter,  often  in  vain.  Yet  the  breaking  up  of  the 
nation  into  Judah  and  Israel  helped  to  dispel  the 
illusion.  The  loss  of  national  independence  prepared 
for  the  universalism  of  Jesus  Christ  and  St.  Paul. 
Now  also,  when  an  epistle  is  written  to  the  Hebrew 
Christians,  the  threatened  extinction  of  nationality 
drives  men  to  seek  the  bond  of  union  in  a  more  stable 
covenant,  which  will  save  them,  if  anything  can,  from 
the  utter  collapse  of  all  religious  fellowship  and  civil 
society.  It  is  the  glory  of  Christianity  that  it  creates 
the  individual  and  at  the  same  moment  keeps  perfectly 
clear  of  individualism.  Its  blessings  are  personal,  but 
they  imply  a  covenant.  If  nationalism  has  been 
dethroned,  individualism  has  not  climbed  to  the 
vacant  seat.      How  it  achieves   this  great   result  will 


142  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS. 


be  understood  from  an  examination  of  Jeremiah's 
prophecy. 

The  new  covenar  deals  with  the  same  fundamental 
conceptions  which  dominated  the  former  one.  These 
are  the  moral  law,  knowledge  of  God,  and  forgiveness 
of  sin.  So  far  the  two  dispensations  are  one.  Because 
these  great  conceptions  lie  at  the  root  of  all  human 
goodness,  religion  is  essentially  the  same  thing  under 
both  covenants.  There  is  a  sense  in  which  St.  Augus- 
tine was  right  in  speaking  of  the  saints  under  the  old 
Testament  as  '^  Christians  before  Christ."  Judaism 
and  Christianity  stand  shoulder  to  shoulder  over  against 
the  religious  ideas  and  practices  of  all  the  heathen 
nations  of  the  world.  But  in  Judaism  these  sublime 
conceptions  are  undeveloped.  Nationalism  dwarfs  their 
growth.  They  are  like  seeds  falling  on  the  thorns,  and 
the  thorns  grow  up  and  choke  them.  God,  therefore, 
spoke  unto  the  Jews  in  parables,  in  types  and  shadows. 
Seeing,  they  saw  not ;  and  hearing,  they  heard  not, 
neither  did  they  understand. 

Because  the  former  covenant  was  a  national  one,  the 
conceptions  of  the  moral  law,  of  God,  of  sin  and  its  for- 
giveness, would  be  narrow  and  external.  The  moral 
law  would  be  embedded  in  the  national  code.  God 
would  be  revealed  in  the  history  of  the  nation.  Sin 
would  consist  either  in  faults  of  ignorance  and  inad- 
vertence or  in  national  apostasy  from  the  theocratic 


aii.  7-I3-]  ^-^^  ^^^  COVENANT.  143 


King.  In  these  three  respects  the  new  covenant  excels, 
—in  respect,  that  is,  of  the  m'  S  law,  knowledge  of 
God,  and  forgiveness  of  sin,  v  h  yet  may  be  justly 
reo-arded  as  the  three  sides  Oi  the  revelation  given 
under  the  former  covenant. 

I.  The  moral  law  will  either  forget  its  own  holiness, 
righteousness,    and    goodness,     and    degenerate    into 
national  rules  of  conduct,  or  else,  by  the  innate  force 
of  its  spirituality,  create  in  men  a  consciousness  of  sin 
and  a  strong  desire  for  reconciliation  with  God.     Men 
will  resist,   and,   when   resistance   is  vain,   will  chafe 
against    its    terrible    strength.     "The    Law    came    in 
beside,  that  the  trespass  might  abound."  *     But  it  often 
happens  that   guilt  of  conscience   is  the  alarum  that 
awakens  moral  self-consciousness  out  of  sleep,  never  to 
fall  asleep  again  when  holiness  has  found  entrance  into 
the  soul.     Beyond  this  the  old  covenant  advanced  not  a 
step.     The  promise  of  the  new  covenant  is  to  put  the 
Law  into  the  mind,  not  in  an  ark  of  shittim  wood,  and 
to  write  it  in  the  heart,  not  on  tables  of  stone.     The 
Law  was  given  on  Sinai  as  an  external  commandment ; 
it  is  put  into  the  mind  as  a  knowledge  of  moral  truth. 
It  was  written  on  the  two  tables  in  the  weakness  of  the 
letter  ;  on  the  heart  it  is  written  as  a  principle  and  a 
power  of  obedience.     The  power  of  God  to  command 


*  Kom.  V.  20. 


144  THE  EPISTLE   TO    THE  HEBREWS. 

becomes  the  strength  of  man  to  obey.  In  this  way 
the  new  covenant  reahses  what  the  former  covenant 
demanded.  The  new  covenant  is  the  old  covenant 
transformed,  made  spiritual.  God  is  become  the  God 
of  His  people ;  and  this  was  the  promise  of  the  former 
covenant.  They  are  no  more  children,  as  they  were  ' 
when  God  took  them  by  the  hand  and  led  them  out  of 
the  land  of  Egypt.  Instead  of  the  external  guidance, 
they  have  the  unction  within,  and  know  all  things.  * 
Renewed  in  the  spirit  of  their  mind,  they  put  on  the 
new  man,  which  after  God  is  created  in  righteousness 
and  the  holiness  of  truth. 

2.  So  also  of  knowing  God.  The  moral  attributes 
of  the  Most  High  are  revealed  under  the  former 
covenant,  and  the  God  of  the  Old  Testament  is  the 
God  of  the  New.  Abraham  knows  Him  as  the  ever- 
lasting God.  Elisha  understands  that  there  is  no 
darkness  or  shadow  of  death  where  the  workers  of 
iniquity  may  hide  themselves.  Balaam  declares  that 
God  is  not  a  man  that  He  should  lie.  The  Psalmist 
confesses  to  God  that  he  cannot  flee  from  His  presence. 
The  father  of  believers  fears  not  to  ask,  *'  Shall  not  the 
Judge  of  the  earth  do  right  ?  "  Moses  recognises  that 
the  Lord  is  longsuffering,  and  of  great  mercy,  forgiving 
iniquity  and  transgression.  Isaiah  hears  the  seraphim 
crying  one  to  another,  "  Holy,  holy,  holy,  is  the  Lord  of 
hosts."     But   nationalism   distorted   the   image.      The 


viii.  7-I3-]  THE  NEW  COVENANT.  145 

conception  of  God's  Fatherhood  is  most  indistinct. 
When,  however,  Christ  taught  His  disciples  to  say  in 
prayer,  "  Our  Father,"  He  could  then  at  once  add  the 
words  "  Who  art  in  heaven."  The  spirit  of  man  rose 
immediately  with  a  mighty  upheava4  above  the  narrow 
bounds  of  nationalism.  The  attributes  of  God  became 
more  lofty  as  well  as  more  amiable  to  the  eyes  of  His 
children.  The  God  of  a  nation  is  not  great  enough  to 
be  our  Father.  The  God  Who  is  our  Father  is  God  in 
heaven. 

Not  only  are  God's  attributes  revealed,  but  the 
faculty  to  know  Him  is  also  bestowed.  The  moral  law 
and  a  heart  to  love  it  are  the  two  elements  of  a  know- 
ledge of  God's  nature.  For  God  Himself  is  hoHness 
and  love.  In  vain  will  men  cry  one  to  another,  saying, 
"  Know  the  Lord."  As  well  might  they  bid  the  blind 
behold  the  light,  or  the  wicked  love  purity.  Know- 
ledge of  nature  can  be  taught.  It  can  be  parcelled  in 
propositions,  carried  about,  and  handed  to  others.  But 
the  character  of  God  is  not  a  notion,  and  cannot  be 
taught  as  a  lesson  or  in  a  creed,  however  true  the 
creed  may  be.  The  two  opposite  ends  of  all  our 
knowledge  are  our  sensations  and  God.  In  one  respect 
the  two  are  alike.  Knowledge  of  them,  cannot  be  con- 
ve3^ed  in  words. 

3.  The  only  thing  concerning  God  that  can  be  known 
by  a  man  who  is  not  holy  himself  is  that  He  will  punish 

10 


146  THE  EPISTLE   TO    THE  HEBREWS. 

the  impenitent,  and  can  forgive.  These  are  objective  facts. 
They  may  be  announced  to  the  world,  and  believed.  In 
the  history  of  all  holy  men,  under  the  Old  Testament 
as  v^ell  as  under  the  New,  they  are  their  first  lesson 
in  spiritual  theology.  To  say  that  penitent  sinners 
under  the  Law  could  not  be  absolved  from  guilt  or  taste 
the  sweetness  of  God's  forgiving  grace  must  be  false. 
St.  Paul  himself,  who  describes  the  Law  as  a  covenant 
that  "  gendereth  to  bondage,"  cites  the  words  of  the 
Psalmist,  "  Blessed  is  he  whose  transgression  is  for- 
given, whose  sin  is  covered,"  to  prove  that  God  imputes 
righteousness  without  works.*  When  the  Apostle 
Peter  was  declaring  that  all  the  prophets  witness  to 
Jesus  Christ,  that  through  His  name  whosoever  be- 
lieveth  in  Him  shall  receive  remission  of  sins,  the  Holy 
Ghost  fell  on  all  who  heard  the  word.  The  very 
promise  which  Jeremiah  says  will  be  fulfilled  under  the 
future  covenant  Isaiah  claims  for  his  own  days  :  "  I, 
even  I,  am  He  that  blotteth  out  thy  transgressions  for 
Mine  own  sake,  and  will  not  remicmber  thy  sins."  f 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  equally  plain  that  St.  Paul 
and  the  author  of  this  Epistle  agree  in  teaching  that 
the  sacrifices  of  the  old  covenant  had  in  them  no 
virtue  to  remove  guilt.  They  cannot  take  away  sin, 
and  they  cannot  remove  the  consciousness  of  sin.J     The 

*  Roin.  iv.  7,  f  Isa.  xliii,  25,  %  Chap.  x.  2,  4. 


viii.7-i3.]  THE  NEW  COVENANT.  147 

writer  evidently  considers  it  sufficient  to  state  the  im- 
possibility, without  labouring  to  prove  it.  His  readers* 
consciences  would  bear  him  out  in  the  assertion  that 
it  is  not  possible  that  the  blood  of  bulls  and  of  goats 
should  take  away  sins. 

It  remains — and  it  is  the  only  supposition  left  to 
us — that  peace  of  conscience  must  have  been  the  result 
of  another  revelation,  simultaneous  with  the  covenant 
of  the  LaW;  but  differing  from  it  in  purpose  and  instru- 
ments. Such  a  revelation  would  be  given  through  the 
prophets,  who  stood  apart  as  a  distinct  order  from  the 
priesthood.  They  were  the  preachers.  They  quickened 
conscience,  and  spoke  of  God's  hatred  of  sin  and  will- 
ingness to  forgive.  Every  advance  in  the  revelation 
came  through  the  prophets,  not  through  the  priests. 
The  latter  represent  the  stationary  side  of  the  covenant, 
but  the  prophets  hold  before  the  eyes  of  men  the  idea 
of  progress.  What,  then,  was  the  weakness  of  pro- 
phecy in  reference  to  forgiveness  of  sin  when  compared 
with  the  new  covenant?  The  prophets  predicted  a 
future  redemption.  This  was  their  strength.  It  was 
also  their  weakness.  For  that  future  was  not  balanced 
by  an  equally  great  past.  However  glorious  the 
history  of  the  nation  had  been,  it  was  not  strong 
enough  to  bear  the  weight  of  so  transcendent  a  future. 
Every  nation  that  believes  in  the  greatness  of  its  own 
future    already   possesses    a    great    past.     If  not,   it 


148  THE  EPISTLE    TO    THE   HEBREWS. 


creates  one.  Mythology  and  hero-worship  are  the 
attempt  of  a  people  to  erect  their  future  on  a  sufficient 
foundation.  But  men  had  not  experienced  anything 
great  enough  to  inspire  them  with  a  living  faith 
in  the  reality  of  the  promises  which  the  prophets 
announced.  Sin  had  not  been  atoned  for.  The  Chris- 
tian preacher  can  point  to  the  wonderful  but  well- 
assured  facts  of  the  life  and  death  of  Jesus  Christ.  If 
he  could  not  do  this,  or  if  he  neglects  to  do  it,  feeble 
and  unreal  will  sound  his  proclamation  of  the  terrors 
and  joys  of  the  world  to  come.  The  Gospel  has  for 
one  of  its  primary  objects  to  appease  the  guilty 
conscience.  How  it  achieves  this  purpose  our  author 
will  tell  us  in  another  chapter.  For  the  present  all  we 
learn  is  that  knowledge  of  God  is  knowledge  of  His 
moral  nature,  and  that  this  knowledge  belongs  to  the 
man  whose  moral  consciousness  has  been  quickened. 
The  evangelical  doctrine  that  the  source  of  holiness 
is  thankfulness  was  well  meant,  as  an  antidote  to 
legalism  on  the  one  hand  and  to  Antinomianism  on 
the  other.  The  sinner,  we  were  told,  once  redeemed 
from  the  curse  of  the  Law  and  delivered  from  the 
danger  of  perdition,  begins  to  love  the  Christ  Who 
redeemed  and  saved  him.  The  doctrine  contains  a 
truth,  and  is  applicable  to  this  extent :  that  he  to  whom 
much  is  forgiven  loveth  much.  But  it  would  not  be 
true   to  say   that    all   good    men    have   sought    God's, 


vlii.7-i3-]  THE  NEW  COVENANT.  149 

forgiveness  because  they  feared  hell  torments.  To 
some  their  guilt  is  their  hell.  Fear  is  too  narrow  a 
foundation  of  holiness.  We  cannot  explain  saintliness 
by  mere  gratitude.  For  "thankfulness"  we  must  write 
"conscience/'  and  substitute  forgiveness  and  absolution 
from  guilt  for  safety  from  future  misery,  if  we  would 
lay  a  foundation  broad  and  firm  enough  on  which  to 
erect  the  sublimest  holiness  of  man. 

Our  author  infers  from  the  words  of  Jeremiah  that 
there  was  an  inherent  decay  in  the  former  covenant. 
It  was  itself  ready  to  vanish  away,  and  make  room  for 
a  new  and  more  spiritual  one.* 

II.  A  New  Covenant  symbolized  in  the  Tabernacle. 

*'  Now  even  the  first  covenant  had  ordinances  of  divine  service,  and 
its  sanctuary,  a  sanctuary  of  this  world.  For  there  was  a  tabernacle 
prepared,  the  first,  wherein  were  the  candlestick,  and  the  table,  and 
the  shewbread  ;  which  is  called  the  Holy  place.  And  after  the  second 
veil,  the  tabernacle  which  is  called  the  Holy  of  holies  ;  having  a  golden 
censer,  and  the  ark  of  the  covenant  overlaid  round  about  with  gold, 
wherein  was  a  golden  pot  holding  the  manna,  and  Aaron's  rod  that 
budded,  and  the  tables  of  the  covenant  ;  and  above  it  chenibim  of 
glory  overshadowing  the  mercy-seat ;  of  which  we  cannot  now  speak 
severally.  Now  these  things  having  been  thus  prepared,  the  priests 
go  in  continually  into  the  first  tabernacle,  accomplishing  the  services ; 
but  into  the  second  the  high-priest  alone,  once  in  the  year,  not  without 
blood,  which  he  offereth  for  himself,  and  for  the  errors  of  the  people  : 
the  Holy  Ghost  this  signifying,  that  the  way  into  the  holy  place  hath 
not  yet  been  made  manifest,  while  as  the  first  tabernacle  is  yet  standing; 
which  is  a  parable  for  the  time  now  present ;  according  to  which  are 

*  Chap.  viii.  13. 


I5d  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREtVS. 

offered  both  gifts  and  sacrifices  that  cannot,  as  touching  the  conscience, 
make  the  worshipper  perfect,  being  only  (with  meats  and  drinks  and 
divers  wastiings)  carnal  ordinances,  imposed  until  a  time  of  reformation. 
But  Christ  having  come  a  High-priest  of  the  good  things  to  come,  through 
the  greater  and  more  perfect  tabernacle,  not  made  with  hands,  that  is  to 
say,  not  of  this  creation,  nor  yet  through  the  blood  of  goats  and  calves, 
but  through  His  own  blood,  entered  in  once  for  all  into  the  holy  place, 
having  obtained  eternal  redemption.  For  if  the  blood  of  goats  and 
bulls,  and  the  ashes  of  a  heifer  sprinkling  them  that  have  been  defiled, 
sanctify  unto  the  cleanness  of  the  flesh  :  how  much  more  shall  the  blood 
of  Christ,  Who  through  the  eternal  Spirit  offered  Himself  without  blemish 
unto  God,  cleanse  your  conscience  from  dead  works  to  serve  the  living 
God?"-HEB.  ix.  I— 14  (R.V.). 

With  the  words  of  a  prophet  the  Apostle  contrasts 
the  ritual  of  the  priests.  Jeremiah  prophesied  of  a 
better  covenant,  because  he  found  the  former  one  did 
not  satisfy  conscience.  A  description  of  the  tabernacle, 
its  furniture  and  ordinances  of  Divine  service,  follows. 
At  first  it  appears  strange  that  the  author  should  have 
thought  it  necessary  to  enumerate  in  detail  what  the 
tabernacle  contained.  But  to  infer  that  he  is  a  Hel- 
lenist, to  whom  the  matter  had  all  the  charm  of  novelty, 
would  be  very  precarious.  His  purpose  is  to  show 
that  the  way  of  the  holiest  was  not  yet  open.  The 
tabernacle  consisted  of  two  chambers  :  the  foremost  and 
larger  of  the  two,  called  the  sanctuary,  and  an  inner 
one,  called  the  holiest  of  all.  Now  the  sanctuary  had 
its  furniture  and  stated  rites.  It  was  not  a  mere  vesti- 
bule or  passage  leading  to  the  holiest.  The  eighth 
verse,  literally  rendered,  expresses  that  the  outer  sane- 


ix.  1-14.]  THE  NEW  COVENANT.  151 

tuary  "held  a  position."*  Its  furniture  was  for  daily  use. 
The  candelabrum  supported  the  seven  lamps,  which 
gave  light  to  the  ministering  priests.  The  shewbread, 
laid  on  the  table  in  rows  of  twelve  cakes,  was  eaten  by 
Aaron  and  his  sons.  Into  this  chamber  the  priests 
went  always,  accomplishing  the  daily  services.  More- 
over, between  the  holy  place  and  the  holiest  of  all 
hung  a  thick  veil.  Into  the  holiest  the  high-priest 
only  was  permitted  to  enter,  and  he  could  only  enter 
on  the  annual  day  of  atonement.  This  chamber  also 
had  its  proper  furniture.  To  it  belonged  f  the  altar  of 
incense  (for  so  we  must  read  in  the  fourth  verse, 
instead  of  "golden  censer"),  although  its  actual  place 
was  in  the  outer  sanctuary.  It  stood  in  front  of 
the  veil  that  the  high-priest  might  take  the  incense 
from  it,  without  which  he  was  not  permitted  to  enter 
the  holiest ;  and  when  he  came  out,  he  sprinkled  it 
with  blood  as  he  had  sprinkled  the  hoHest  place  itself. 
In  the  inner  chamber  stood  the  ark  of  the  covenant, 
containing  the  pot  of  manna,  Aaion's  rod  that  budded, 
and  the  two  tables  of  stone  on  which  the  Ten  Com- 
mandments were  written.  On  the  ark  was  the  mercy- 
seat,  and  above  the  mercy-seat  were  the  cherubim. 
But  there  were  no  lamps  to  give  light ;  there  was  no 
shewbread  for  food.     The  glory  of  the  Lord  filled  it, 

*  e'xoiJcrT/s  (TTaaiP  (ix.  8).  f  txovcra  (ix.  4). 


152  THE  EPISTLE   TO    THE  HEBREWS. 

and  was  the  light  thereof.  When  the  high-priest  had 
performed  the  atoning  rites,  he  was  not  permitted  to 
stay  within.  It  is  evident  that  reconciliation  through 
blood  was  the  idea  symbolized  by  the  holiest  place,  its 
furniture,  and  the  yearly  rite  performed  within  it.  But 
the  veil  and  the  outer  chamber  stood  between  the  sinful 
people  and  the  mercy-seat.  Our  author  ascribes  this 
arrangement  of  the  two  chambers,  the  veil,  and  the  one 
entrance  every  year  of  the  high-priest  into  the  inner 
shrine,  to  the  Holy  Spirit,  Who  teaches  men  by  symbol* 
that  the  way  to  God  is  not  yet  open.  But  He  also 
teaches  them  through  the  ordinances  of  the  outer 
sanctuary  that  access  to  God  is  a  necessity  of  con- 
science, and  yet  that  the  gifts  and  sacrifices  there 
offered  cannot  satisfy  conscience,  resting,  as  they 
do,  only  on  meats  and  drinks  and  divers  washings. 
All  we  can  say  of  them  is  that  they  were  the  require- 
ments of  natural  conscience,  here  termed  "  flesh,"  and 
that  these  demands  of  human  consciousness  of  guilt 
were  sanctioned  and  imposed  on  men  by  God  provi- 
sionally, until  the  time  came  for  restoring  permanently 
the  long-lost  peace  between  God  and  men. 

Contrast  with  all  this  the  ministry  of  Christ.  He 
made  His  appearance  on  earth  as  High-priest  of  the 
things  which  have  now  at  length  come  to  us.f     The 

•  dr)\ovvTos  (ix.  8).  t  Reading  yevo/ji^vuv  (ix.  II). 


ix.  1-14.]  THE  NEW  COVENANT.  153 

blessings  prophesied  by  Jeremiah  have  been  realised. 
As  High-priest  He  entered  the  true  holiest  place,  a 
tabernacle  greater  and  more  perfect,  even  heaven  itself.* 
It  is  greater ;  that  is,  larger.  The  outer  sanctuary  has 
ceased  to  exist,  because  the  veil  has  been  rent  in  twain, 
and  the  holy  place  has  been  taken  into  the  holiest 
place.  The  tabernacle  has  now  only  one  chamber,  and 
in  that  chamber  God  meets  all  His  worshipping  saints, 
who  come  to  Him  through  and  with  Jesus,  the  High- 
priest.  The  tabernacle  of  God  is  with  men,  and  He 
shall  dwell,  as  in  the  tabernacle,  with  them,  and  they 
shall  be  His  peoples,  and  God  Himself  shall  be  with 
them.t  Yea,  the  holiest  place  has  spread  itself  over 
Mount  Zion,  on  which  stood  the  king's  palace,  and  over 
the  whole  city  of  Jerusalem,  which  lieth  four-square, 
and  is  become  the  heavenly  and  holy  city,  having  no 
temple,  because  the  Lord  God  Almighty  and  the  Lamb 
are  the  temple  thereof.  "  And  the  city  hath  no  need  of 
the  sun,  neither  of  the  moon,  to  shine  upon  it ;  for  the 
glory  of  God  lightens  it,  and  the  lamp  thereof  is  the 
Lamb."  The  city  and  the  holiest  place  are  commen- 
surate. So  large,  indeed,  is  the  holiest  that  the 
nations  shall  walk  amidst  the  light  thereof.  It  is  also 
more  perfect.^     For  Christ  has  entered  into  the  pre- 

*  Chap.  ix.  II.     Cf.  chap.  ix.  24. 
f  Rev.  xxi.  3. 

X    T€\€lOT^pj.S    (ix.   11). 


154  THE  EPISTLE    TO    THE  HEBREWS. 

sence  of  God  for  us.  Such  a  tabernacle  is  not  con- 
structed of  the  materials  of  this  world,*  nor  fashioned 
with  the  hands  of  cunning  artificers,  Bezaleel  and 
Aholiab.  When  Christ  destroyed  the  sanctuary  made 
with  hands,  in  three  days  He  built  another  made 
without  hands.  In  a  true  sense  it  is  not  made  at  all, 
not  even  by  the  hands  of  Him  Who  built  all  things ; 
for  it  is  essentially  God's  presence.  Into  this  holiest 
place  Christ  entered,  to  appear  in  the  immediate  pre- 
sence of  God.  But  the  Apostle  is  not  satisfied  with 
saying  that  He  entered  within.  Ten  thousand  times 
ten  thousand  of  His  saints  will  do  this.  He  has  done 
more.  He  went  through  f  the  holiest.  He  has  passed 
through  the  heavens.  J  He  has  been  made  higher  than 
the  heavens. §  He  has  taken  His  seat  on  the  right 
hand  of  God.  ||  The  Melchizedek  Priest  has  ascended 
to  the  mercy-seat  and  made  it  His  throne.  He  is 
Himself  henceforth  the  shechinah,  and  the  manifested 
glory  of  the  unseen  Father.  All  this  is  expressed  in 
the  words  ''  through  a  greater  and  more  perfect  taber- 
nacle." 

Moreover,  the  high-priest  entered  into  the  holiest 
place  in  virtue  of  the  blood  of  goats  and  calves. IT  Add, 
if  you  will,  the  ceremony  of  cleansing  a  person  who  had 


♦  ko(tixlk6v  (ix.  2).  X  Chap.  iv.  14.  ||  Chap.  x.  12. 

t  5id  (ix.  II).  §  Chap.  vii.  26.  f  Chap.  ix.  12. 


ix.  1-14.]  THE  NEW  COVENANT,  155 

contracted  defilement  by  touching  a  dead  body.*  He 
also  was  cleansed  by  having  the  ashes  of  a  heifer 
sprinkled  upon  his  flesh.  Why,  the  very  defilement  is 
unreal  and  artificial.  To  touch  a  dead  body  a  sin  !  It 
may  have  been  v^ell  to  make  it  a  crime  from  sanitary 
considerations,  and  it  may  become  a  sin  because  God 
has  forbidden  it.  So  far  it  touched  conscience.  When 
Elijah  stretched  himself  upon  the  dead  child  of  the 
widow  of  Zarephath  three  times,  and  the  soul  of  the 
child  came  into  him  again,  or  when  Elisha  put  his 
mouth  upon  the  mouth  of  the  dead  son  of  the  Shunam- 
mite,  his  eyes  upon  his  eyes,  and  his  hands  upon  his 
hands,  and  the  flesh  of  the  child  waxed  warm,  God's 
holy  prophet  was  defiled  !  The  mother  and  the  child 
might  bring  their  thank-offering  to  the  sanctuary ;  but 
the  prophet,  who  had  done  the  deed  of  power  and 
mercy,  was  excluded  from  joining  in  thanksgiving  and 
prayer.  If  the  defilement  is  unreal,  what  shall  we 
think  of  the  means  of  cleansing  ?  To  touch  a  dead 
child  defiles,  but  the  touch  of  the  ashes  of  a  burnt 
heifer  cleanses !  Yet  natural  conscience  felt  guilty 
when  thus  defiled,  and  recovered  itself,  in  some 
measure,  from  its  shame  when  thus  made  clean,  f 
Such  men  resemble  the  persons,  referred  to  by  St.  Paul, 
who  have  ^'  a  conscience  of  the  idol."  %     Judaism  en- 

•  Chap.  ix.  13.  t  ciYtt^f"  (ix.  13).  }  I  Cor.  viii.  7. 


156  THE  EPISTLE    TO   THE  HEBREWS. 

feebled  the  conscience.  A  man  of  morbid  religious 
sentiment  is  often  defiled  in  his  own  eyes  by  what  is 
not  really  wrong,  and  often  finds  peace  and  comfort  in 
what  is  not  really  a  propitiation  or  a  forgiveness. 

On  the  other  hand,  Christ  entered  the  true  holiest 
place  by  His  own  blood.  He  offered  Himself.  The 
High-priest  is  the  sacrifice.  Under  the  old  covenant 
the  victim  must  be  ^'  without  spot."  But  the  high- 
priest  was  not  without  blemish,  and  he  offered  for  him- 
self as  well  as  for  the  errors  of  the  people.  But  in  the 
offering  of  Christ,  the  spotless  purity  of  the  Victim 
ensures  that  the  High-priest  Himself  is  holy,  harmless, 
undefiled,  separate  from  sinners.  For  this  reason  it 
is  said  here*  that  He  offered  Himself  ^'through  an 
eternal  spirit,"  or,  as  we  should  say  in  modern  phrase, 
^'  through  His  eternal  personality."  He  is  the  High- 
priest  after  the  order  of  Melchizedek ;  and  He  invests 
the  sacrifice  with  all  the  personal  greatness  of  the  High- 
priest.  Is  He  ^'without  beginning  of  days  or  end  of 
life"?  So  also  His  sacrifice  abides  for  ever.  His 
power  of  an  indissoluble  life  belongs  to  His  atonement. 
Is  He  untouched  by  the  rolling  stream  of  time  ?  His 
death  was  of  infinite  merit  in  reference  to  the  past 
and  to  the  future,  though  it  took  place  historically  at 
the  end  of  the  ages.     His  eternal  personality  made  it 

*  Chap.  ix.  14. 


ix.i-i4-]  THE  NEW  COVENANT.  157 

unnecessary  for  Him  to  suffer  often  since  the  founda- 
tion of  the  world.  Because  of  His  personal  greatness, 
it  sufficed  that  He  should  suffer  once  only  and  enter 
once  into  the  holiest  place.  The  eternal  High-priest 
in  one  transitory  act  of  death  offered  a  sacrifice  that 
remains  eternally,  and  obtains  for  us  an  eternal 
redemption.  If,  then,  the  blood  of  goats  and  bulls 
and  the  ashes  of  an  heifer  appease,  in  some  measure, 
the  weak,  frightened  conscience  of  unenlightened 
nature,  how  much  more  shall  the  conscious,  voluntary 
sacrifice  of  this  eternal,  personal  Son  deUver  the  con- 
science of  him  who  worships,  not  a  phantom  deity,  but 
an  eternal,  personal,  living  God,  from  the  guilt  of  dead 
works,  and  bring  him  to  worship  that  living  God  with 
an   eternal,  living  personality  ! 

Mark  the  contrasted  notions.  The  brute  life,  dragged 
to  the  altar,  little  knowing  that  its  hot  blood  is  to  be  a 
propitiation  for  human  guilt,  is  contrasted  with  the  blood 
of  the  Christ  (for  there  is  but  one).  Who,  with  the 
consciousness  and  strength  of  an  eternal  personality, 
willingly  offers  Himself  as  a  sacrifice.  Between  these 
two  lives  are  all  the  lives  which  God  created,  human  and 
angelic.  Yet  the  offering  of  a  beast  in  some  fashion 
and  to  some  degree  appeased  conscience,  unillumined 
by  the  fierce  light  of  God's  holiness  and  untouched  by 
the  pathos  of  Christ's  death.  With  this  imperfect  and 
negative  peace,  or,  to  speak  more  correctly,  truce,  of 


158  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS. 

conscience  is  contrasted  the  living,  eager  worship  of 
him  whose  enlightened  conscience  has  been  purified 
from  spiritual  defilement  by  the  blood  of  Christ.  Such 
a  man's  entire  service  is  worship,  and  his  worship  is 
the  ministering  of  a  priest.*  He  stands  in  the  con- 
gregation of  the  righteous,  and  ascends  unto  God's  holy 
hill.  He  enters  the  holiest  place  with  Christ.  He 
draws  near  with  boldness  to  the  mercy-seat,  now  the 
very  throne  itself  of  grace. 

It  will  be  seen,  if  we  have  rightly  traced  the  line 
of  thought,  that  the  outer  sanctuary  no  longer  exists. 
The  larger  and  more  perfect  tabernacle  is  the  holiest 
place  itself,  when  the  veil  has  been  removed,  and  the 
sanctuary  and  courts  are  all  included  in  the  expanded 
holiest.  Several  very  able  expositors  deny  this.  They 
find  an  antitype  of  the  holy  place  either  in  the  body  of 
Christ  or  in  the  created  heavens,  through  which  He  has 
passed  into  the  immediate  presence  of  God.  But  this 
introduces  confusion,  adds  nothing  of  value  to  the 
meaning  of  the  type,  and  is  inconsistent  with  our 
author's  express  statement  that  the  way  into  the 
holiest  was  not  yet  open  so  long  as  the  holy  place  stood. 

III.  A  New  Covenant  ratified  in  the  Death  of 

Christ. 

**  And  for  this  cause  He  is  the  Mediator  of  a  new  covenant,  that  a  death 
having  taken  place  for  the  redemption  of  the  transgressions  that  were 

*  'ka.Tpeuuv  (ix.   14). 


ix.  I5.-X.  i8.]  THE  NEW  COVENANT.  159 

under  the  first  covenant,  they  that  have  been  called  may  receive  the 
promise  of  the  eternal  inheritance.  For  where  a  testament  is,  there 
must  of  necessity  be  the  death  of  him  that  made  it.  For  a  testament  is 
of  force  where  there  hath  been  death  ;  for  doth  it  ever  avail  while  he 
that  made  it  liveth  ?  Wherefore  even  the  first  covenant  hath  not  been 
dedicated  without  blood.  For  when  every  commandment  had  been 
spoken  by  Moses  unto  all  the  people  according  to  the  Law,  he  took  the 
blood  of  the  calves  and  the  goats,  with  water  and  scarlet  wool  and 
hyssop,  and  sprinkled  both  the  book  itself,  and  all  the  people,  saying, 
This  is  the  blood  of  the  covenant  which  God  commanded  to  you- ward. 
Moreover  the  tabernacle  and  all  the  vessels  of  the  ministry  he  sprinkled 
in  like  manner  with  the  blood.  And  according  to  the  Law,  I  may 
almost  say,  all  things  are  cleansed  with  blood,  and  apart  from  shedding 
of  blood  there  is  no  remission.  It  was  necessary  therefore  that  the 
copies  of  the  things  in  the  heavens  should  be  cleansed  with  these ;  but 
the  heavenly  things  themselves  with  better  sacrifices  than  these.  For 
Christ  entered  not  into  a  holy  place  made  with  hands,  like  in 
pattern  to  the  true ;  but  into  heaven  itself,  now  to  appear  before  the 
face  of  God  for  us  :  nor  yet  that  He  should  offer  Himself  often  ;  as  the 
high-priest  entereth  into  the  holy  place  year  by  year  with  blood  not  his 
own;  else  must  He  often  have  suffered  since  the  foundation  of  the  world  : 
but  now  once  at  the  end  of  the  ages  hath  He  been  manifested  to  put 
away  sin  by  the  sacrifice  of  Himself.  And  inasmuch  as  it  is  appointed 
unto  men  once  to  die,  and  after  this  cometh  judgment ;  so  Christ 
also,  having  been  once  offered  to  bear  the  sins  of  many,  shall  appear  a 
second  time,  apart  from  sin,  to  them  that  wait  for  Him,  unto  salvation. 
For  the  Law  having  a  shadow  of  the  good  things  to  come,  not  the 
very  image  of  the  things,  they  can  never  with  the  same  sacrifices  year 
by  year,  which  they  offer  continually,  make  perfect  them  that  draw 
nigh.  Else  would  they  not  have  ceased  to  be  offered,  because  the 
worshippers,  having  been  once  cleansed,  would  have  had  no  more  con- 
science of  sins  ?  But  in  those  sacrifices  there  is  a  remembrance  made  of 
sins  year  by  year.  For  it  is  impossible  that  the  blood  of  bulls  and 
goats  should  take  away  sins.  Wherefore  when  He  cometh  in'-.o  the 
world.  He  saith. 

Sacrifice  and  offering  Thou  would  est  not, 

But  a  body  didst  Thou  prepare  for  Me  ; 


i6o  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS, 

In  whole  burnt  offerings  and  sacrifices  for  sin  Thou  hadst  no 

pleasure  : 
Then  said  I,  Lo,  I  am  come 
(In  the  roll  of  the  book  it  is  written  of  Me) 
To  do  Thy  will,  O  God. 

Saying  above,  Sacrifices  and  offerings  and  whole  burnt  offerings  and 
sacrifices  for  sin  Thou  wouldest  not,  neither  hadst  pleasure  therein  (the 
which  are  offered  according  to  the  Law),  then  hath  He  said,  Lo,  I  am 
come  to  do  Thy  will.  He  taketh  away  the  first,  that  He  may  establish 
the  second.  By  which  will  we  have  been  sanctified  through  the  offering 
of  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ  once  for  all.  And  every  priest  indeed 
standeth  day  by  day  ministering  and  offering  oftentimes  the  same 
sacrifices,  the  which  can  never  take  away  sins :  but  He,  when  He  had 
offered  one  sacrifice  for  sins  for  ever,  sat  down  on  the  right  hand  of 
God  ;  from  henceforth  expecting  till  His  enemies  be  made  the  footstool 
of  His  feet.  For  by  one  offering  He  hath  perfected  for  ever  them  that 
are  sanctified.  And  the  Holy  Ghost  also  beareth  witness  to  us  :  for 
after  He  hath  said, 

This  is  the  covenant  that  I  will  make  with  them 

After  those  days,  saith  the  Lord  ; 

!^will  put  My  laws  on  their  heart, 

And  upon  their  mind  also  will  I  write  them  ; 
then  saith  He, 

And  their  sins  and  their  iniquities  will  I  remember  no  more. 
Now  where  remission  of  these  is,  there  is  no  more  offering  for  sin." — 
Heb.  ix.  15— X.  18  (R.V.). 

The  Apostle  has  proved  that  a  new  covenant  v^as 
promised  through  the  prophet  and  prefigured  in 
the  tabernacle.  Christ  is  come  to  earth  and  entered 
into  the  holiest  place  of  God,  as  High-priest.  The 
inference  is  that  His  high-priesthood  has  abolished  the 
old  covenant  and  ratified  the  new.  The  priesthood 
has  been  changed,  and  change  of  the  priesthood  implies 


ix.  I5-X.  i8.]  THE  NEW  COVENANT.  i6l 

change  of  the  covenant.  In  fact,  to  this  priesthood 
the  rites  of  the  former  covenant  pointed,  and  on  it  the 
priestly  absolution  rested.  Sins  were  forgiven,  but  not 
in  virtue  of  any  efficacy  supposed  to  belong  to  the  rites 
or  sacrifices,  all  of  which  were  types  of  another  and 
infinitely  greater  death.  For  a  death  has  taken  place 
for  the  redemption  of  all  past  transgressions,  which 
had  been  accumulating  under  the  former  covenant. 
Now  at  length  sin  has  been  put  out  of  the  way.  The 
heirs  of  the  promise  made  to  Abraham,  centuries  before 
the  giving  of  the  Law,  come  at  last  into  possession  of 
their  inheritance.  The  call  has  sounded.  The  hour 
has  struck.  For  this  inheritance  they  waited  till  Christ 
should  die.  The  earthly  Canaan  may  pass  from  one 
race  to  another  race ;  but  the  unchangeable,  eternal  * 
inheritance,  into  which  none  but  the  rightful  heirs  can 
enter,  is  incorruptible,  undefiled,  fading  not  away, 
reserved  in  heaven  for  those  who  are  kept  t  for  its 
possession. 

Because  possession  of  it  was  delayed  till  Christ  died, 
it  may  be  likened  to  an  inheritance  bequeathed  by  a 
testator  in  his  last  will.  For  when  a  person  leaves 
property  by  will  to  another,  the  will  is  of  no  force,  the 
transference  is  not  actually  made,  the  property  does 
not    change    hands,    in    the    testator's    lifetime.      The 

*  aluviov  (ix.  15). 

■\  T€Ti}pr}fihriv  ,  ,  .   (ppovpovfjL^povs  (i  Pet.  i.  4). 

II 


1 62  THE  EPISTLE    TO    THE  HEBREWS. 

transaction  takes  place  after  and  in  consequence  of 
his  death.  This  may  serve  as  an  illustration.  Its 
pertinence  as  such  is  increased  by  the  fact,  which 
in  all  probability  suggested  it  to  our  author,  that  the 
same  word  would  be  used  by  a  Hebrew,  writing  in 
Greek,  for  *^  covenant,"  and  by  a  native  of  Greece  for 
"  a  testamentary  disposition  of  property."  *  But  it  is 
only  an  illustration.  We  cannot  suppose  that  it  was 
intended  to  be  anything  more.f 

To  return  to  argument,  the  blood  of  Christ  may  be 
shown  to  have  ratified  a  covenant  from  the  use  of  blood 
by  Moses  to  inaugurate  the  former  covenant.  The 
Apostle  has  spoken  before  of  the  shedding  and  sprinkhng 
of  blood  in  sacrifice.  When  the  high-priest  entered 
into  the  holiest  place,  he  offered  blood  for  himself  and 
the  people.  But,  besides  its  use  in  sacrifice,  blood  was 
sprinkled  on  the  book  of  the  law,  on  the  tabernacle, 
and  on  all  the  vessels  of  the  ministry.  Without  a 
copious  stream,  a  veritable  "  outflow  "  %  of  blood,  both 
c-s  ratifying  the  covenant  and   as  offered  in  sacrifice, 


t  To  forestall  censure  for  inconsistency,  the  present  writer  may  be 
permitted  to  refer  to  what  he  now  sees  to  have  been  a  desperate  attempt 
on  his  part  (in  the  Expositor')  to  explain  the  passage  on  the  suppo^-ition 
that  the  word  diadijKr]  means  *'  covenant  "  throughout.  He  is  bound  to 
admit  that  the  attempt  was  a  failure.  If  he  lives  to  write  retractations, 
this  will  be  one. 

%  ai/j.aT€KXv<^i0.s  (ix.  22). 


ix.  I5-X.  i8.]  THE  NEW  COVENANT.  163 

there  was  under  the  Law  no  remission  of  sins.  Now 
the  typical  character  of  all  the  arrangements  and 
ordinances  instituted  by  Moses  is  assumed  throughout. 
Even  the  purification  of  the  tabernacle  and  its  vessels 
with  blood  must  be  symbolical  of  a  spiritual  truth. 
There  is,  therefore,  in  the  new  covenant  a  purification 
of  the  true  holiest  place.  To  make  the  matter  still 
more  evident,  the  author  reminds  his  readers  of  a  fact, 
which  he  has  already  mentioned,*  in  reference  to  the 
construction  of  the  tabernacle.  Moses  was  admonished 
of  God  to  make  it  a  copy  and  shadow  of  heavenly 
things.  "  For,  See,  saith  He,  that  thou  make  all  things 
according  to  the  pattern  showed  to  thee  in  the  mount." 
It  appears,  then,  that  not  only  the  covenant  was 
typical,  but  the  tabernacle,  its  vessels,  and  the  purify- 
ing of  all  with  blood  were  a  copy  of  things  in  the 
heavens,  the  true  holiest  place.  And,  inasmuch  as  the 
holiest  place  has  now,  in  Christ,  included  within  it  the 
sanctuary,  and  every  veil  and  wall  of  partition  has 
been  removed,  the  purification  of  the  tabernacle  cor- 
responds to  a  purification,  under  the  new  covenant,  of 
heaven  itself. 

Not  that  the  heaven  of  God  is  polluted.  Even  the 
earthly  shrine  had  not  itself  contracted  defilement. 
The  blood  sprinkled  on  the  tabernacle  and  its  vessels 

*  Chap.  viii.  5. 


1 64  THE  EPISTLE    TO    THE  HEBREWS, 

was  not  different  from  the  blood  of  the  sacrifice.  As 
sacrificial  blood,  it  consecrated  the  place,  and  was  also 
offered  to  God.  Similarly  the  blood  of  Christ  made 
heaven  a  sanctuary,  erected  there  a  holiest  place  for 
the  appearing  of  the  great  High-priest,  constituted  the 
throne  of  the  Most  High  a  mercy-seat  for  men.  By 
the  same  act  it  became  an  offering  to  God,  enthroned 
on  the  mercy-seat.  The  two  notions  of  ratifying  the 
covenant  and  atoning  for  sin  cannot  be  separated.  For 
this  reason  our  author  says  the  heavenly  things  are 
purified  with  sacrifices.  But  as  heaven  is  higher  than 
the  earth,  as  the  true  holiest  place  excels  the  typical, 
so  must  the  sacrifices  that  purify  heaven  be  better  than 
the  sacrifices  that  purified  the  tabernacle.  But  Christ 
is  great  enough  to  make  heaven  itself  a  new  place, 
whereas  He  Himself  remains  unchanged,  *^  yesterday 
and  to-day  the  same,  and  for  ever." 

The  thought  of  Christ's  eternal  oneness  is  apparently 
suggested  to  the  Apostle  by  the  contrast  between  Christ 
and  the  purified  heaven.  But  it  helps  his  argument. 
For  the  blood  of  Christ,  when  offered  in  heaven,  so 
fully  and  perfectly  ratified  the  new  covenant  that  He 
remains  for  evermore  in  the  holiest  place  and  evermore 
offers  Himself  to  God  in  one  eternally  unbroken  act. 
He  did  not  enter  heaven  to  come  out  again,  as  the  high- 
priests  presented  their  offering  repeatedly,  year  after' 
year.      They   could   not   do   otherwise,    because   they 


ix.  is-x.  i8.]  THE  NEW  COVENANT.  165 

entered  '*  with  blood  not  their  own/'  or^  as  we  may 
render  the  word,  ''  with  aHen  *  blood."  The  blood  of 
goats  and  bulls  cannot  take  away  sin.  Consequently, 
the  absolution  obtained  is  unreal  and,  therefore, 
temporary  in  its  effect.  The  blood  of  the  beasts  must 
be  renewed  as  the  annual  day  of  atonement  comes 
round.  If  Christ's  offering  of  Himself  had  only  a 
temporary  efficacy,  He  must  often  have  suffered  since 
the  foundation  of  the  world.  The  forgiveness  under 
the  former  covenant  put  off  the  retribution  for  one 
year.  St.  Paul  expresses  the  same  conception  when 
he  describes  it  as  not  a  real  forgiveness,  but  as  "the 
passing  over  f  of  the  sins  done  aforetime,  in  the  for- 
bearance of  God."  The  writer  of  the  Epistle  infers  that, 
if  Christ's  sacrifice  were  meritorious  for  a  time  only, 
then  He  ought  to  have  repeated  His  offering  whenever 
the  period  for  which  it  was  efficacious  came  to  an  end  ; 
and,  inasmuch  as  His  atonement  was  not  restricted  to 
one  nation,  it  would  have  been  necessary  for  Him  to 
appear  on  earth  repeatedly,  and  repeatedly  die,  not 
from  the  time  of  Moses  or  of  Abraham,  but  from  the 
foundation  of  the  world.  But  our  author  has  long 
since  said  ''  that  the  works  were  finished  from  the 
foundation  of  the  world."  %      God    Himself  after   the 

*  dWoTpicj)  (ix.  25). 

f  irdpeaip,  as  contrasted  with  &(p€<Ti$  (Rom.  iii.  25). 

X  Chap.  iv.  3. 


i66  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS. 

work  of  creation  entered  on  His  Sabbath  rest.  The 
Sabbath  developed  from  initial  creation  to  final  atone- 
ment, and,  because  Christ's  atonement  is  final,  He  has 
perfected  the  Sabbath  eternally  in  the  heavens.  But 
the  Sabbath  of  God  would  have  been  no  Sabbath  to 
the  Son  of  God,  but  a  constant  recurrence  of  sufferings 
and  deaths,  if  He  did  not  finish  transgression  and 
atone  for  sin  by  His  one  death.  "  Once,  at  the  end 
of  the  ages,"  when  the  tale  of  sin  and  woe  has  been 
all  told,  "  hath  He  appeared,"  which  proves  that  He  has 
finally  and  for  ever  put  away  sin  through  His  one 
sacrifice.* 

The  Apostle  speaks  as  one  who  believed  that  the  end 
of  the  world  was  at  hand.  He  even  builds  an  argu- 
ment on  this  to  him  assured  fact  of  the  near  future. 
True,  the  end  of  the  world  was  not  yet.  But  the 
argument  is  equally  valid  in  its  essential  bearing.  For 
the  important  point  is  that  Christ  appeared  on  earth 
only  once.  Whether  His  one  death  occurred  at  the 
beginning  of  human  history,  or  at  the  end,  or  at  the 
end  of  one  period  and  the  beginning  of  another,  is 
immaterial. 

Then  follows  a  very  original  piece  of  reasoning, 
plainly  intended  to  be  an  additional  proof  that  Christ's 
dying  once  put  away  sin  for  ever.     To  appear  on  earth 


*  Chap.  ix.  26. 


ix.  I5-X.  i8.]  THE   NEW  COVENANT,  167 

often,  and  to  die  often,  would  have  been  impossible  for 
Him.  He  was  true  man,  of  woman  born,  not  an 
apparition,  not  an  angel  assuming  the  appearance  of 
humanity,  not  the  Son  of  God  really  and  man  only 
seemingly.  But  it  is  appointed  unto  men  once,  and 
only  once,  to  die.  After  their  one  death  comes,  sooner 
or  later,  judgment.  To  return  to  earth  and  make  a  new 
beginning,  to  retrieve  the  errors  and  failures  of  a  com- 
pleted life,  is  not  given  to  men.  This  is  the  Divine 
appointment.  Exception  to  the  Apostle's  argument 
must  not  be  taken  from  the  resurrection  of  Lazarus  and 
others  who  were  restored  to  life.  The  Apostle  speaks 
of  God's  usual  course  of  action.  So  understood,  it  is 
difficult  to  conceive  how  any  words  can  be  more 
decisive  against  the  doctrine  of  probation  after  death. 
For,  however  long  judgment  may  tarry,  our  author 
acknowledges  no  possibility  of  changing  any  man's 
state  or  character  between  death  and  the  final  award. 
On  this  impossibility  of  retrieving  the  past  the  force  ot 
the  argument  entirely  depends.  If  Christ,  Who  was 
true  man,  failed  in  His  one  life  and  one  death,  the 
failure  is  irretrievable.  He  cannot  come  again  to  earth 
and  try  anew.  To  Him,  as  to  other  men,  it  was 
appointed  to  die  once  only.  In  His  case,  as  in  the 
case  of  others,  judgment  follows  death, — judgment 
irreversible  on  the  things  done  in  the  body.  To  add 
emphasis    to    the   notion   of   finality   in    the   work   of 


1 68  THE  EPISTLE    TO    THE  HEBREWS. 

Christ's  life  on  earth,  the  Apostle  uses  the  passive  verb, 
^'  was  offered."*  The  offering,  it  is  true,  was  made  by 
Christ  Himself.  But  here  the  deed  is  more  emphatic 
than  the  Doer :  "  He  was  offered  once  for  all."  The 
result  of  the  offering  is  also  emphasised  :  "  He  was 
offered  so  as  f  to  lift  up  sins,  like  a  heavy  burden, 
and  bear  them  away  for  ever."  Even  the  word 
"many"  is  not  to  be  slurred  over.  It  too  indicates 
that  the  work  of  Christ  was  final ;  for  the  sins  of  many 
have  been  put  away. 

What  will  be  the  judgment  on  Christ's  one  redemp- 
tive death  ?  Has  it  been  a  failure  ?  The  answer  is 
that  His  death  and  His  coming  into  the  judgment  have 
a  closer  relation  to  men  than  mere  similarity.  He 
entered  into  the  presence  of  God  as  a  sin-offering.  He 
will  be  proved,  at  His  second  appearing,  to  have  put 
away  sin.  For  He  will  appear  then  apart  from  J  sin. 
God  will  pronounce  that  Christ's  blood  has  been 
accepted,  and  that  His  work  has  been  finished.  His 
acquittal  will  be  the  acquittal  of  those  whose  sins  He 
bare  in  His  body  on  the  tree. 

Nor  will  His  appearing  be  now  long  delayed.  It 
was  already  the  end  of  the  ages  when  He  first  appeared. 
Therefore  look  out  for  Him  with  eager  expectancy  § 
and  upward  gaze.     For  He  will  be  once  again  actually 


♦  TrpoaivtxOtis  (ix.  2S).         f  els.  %  X^P^^-         §  aireKb^xoixivois, 


ix.  I5-X.  i8.]  THE  NEW  COVENANT.  169 

beheld    by  human  eyes,  and   the  vision  will   be  unto 
salvation. 

We  must  not  fail  to  note  that,  when  the  Apostle 
speaks  in  this  passage  of  Christ's  being  once  offered, 
he  refers  to  His  death.  The  analogy  between  men  and 
Christ  breaks  down  completely  if  the  death  of  Christ 
was  not  the  offering  for  sin.  Faustus  Socinus  revived 
the  Nestorian  doctrine  that  our  author  represents  the 
earthly  life  and  death  of  Jesus  as  a  moral  preparation 
for  the  priesthood  which  was  conferred  upon  Him  at 
His  ascension  to  the  right  hand  of  God.  The  bearing 
of  this  interpretation  of  the  Epistle  on  the  Socinian 
doctrine  generally  is  plain.  A  moral  preparation  there 
undoubtedly  was,  as  the  Apostle  has  shown  in  the 
second  chapter.  But  if  Christ  was  not  Priest  on  earth, 
His  death  was  not  an  atoning  sacrifice.  If  He  was 
not  Priest,  He  was  not  Victim.  Moreover,  if  He  fills 
the  office  of  Priest  in  heaven  only.  His  priesthood 
cannot  involve  suffering  and,  therefore,  cannot  be  an 
atonement.  But  the  view  is  inconsistent  with  the 
Apostle's  express  statement  that,  "  as  it  is  appointed 
unto  men  once  to  die,  so  Christ  was  once  offered." 
Of  course,  we  cannot  acquiesce  in  the  opposite  view 
that  His  death  was  Christ's  only  priestly  act,  and  that 
His  life  in  heaven  is  such  a  state  of  exaltation  as  ex- 
cludes the  possibility  of  priestly  service.  For  He  is 
''a  Minister  of  the  sanctuary,  and  of  the  true  taber- 


I70  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS. 

nacle,  which  the  Lord  pitched,  not  man."  *     The  death 
of  Christ  was  a  distinct  act  of  priestly  service.     But  it 
must  not  be  separated  from  His  entering  into  heaven. 
Aaron  received  into  his  hands  the  blood  of  the  newly 
slain    victim,    and    immediately    carried    the    smoking 
blood  into  the  holiest  place.     The  act  of  offering  the 
blood   before  God  was  as  necessary  to  constitute  the 
atonement  as  the  previous  act  of  slaying  the  animal. 
Hence  it  is  that   the   shedding  and   the  sprinkling  of 
the  blood  are  spoken  of  as  one  and  the  same  action. 
Christ,    in   like    manner,    went   into   the    true   holiest 
through  His  death.     Any  other  way  of  entering  heaven 
than  through  a  sacrificial  death  would  have  destroyed 
the  priestly  character  of  His  heavenly  life.     But  His 
death  would  have   been   insufficient.     He  must   offer 
His  blood  and  appear  in  the  presence  of  God  for  us. 
To  give  men  access  unto  God  was  the  ultimate  purpose 
of  redemption.     He  must,  therefore,  consecrate  through 
the  veil  of  His  flesh — a  new  and  living  way  by  which 
we  may  come  unto  God  through  Him. 

Must   we,    therefore,    say   that    Christ    entered  the 

holiest   place  at    His    death,    not    at    His   ascension? 

Does  the  Apostle  refer  only  to   the  entrance  of  the 

oul  into   the  invisible  world  ?     The  question    is   not 

an  easy  one.     If  the  Apostle   means    the   Ascension, 

*  Chap.  viii.  2. 


ix.  15-X.  18.]  THE  NEW  COVENANT. 


what  doctrinal  use  does  he  make  of  the  interval 
between  the  Crucifixion  and  the  Ascension  ?  Many  of 
the  fathers  are  evidently  at  a  loss  to  know  what  to 
make  of  this  interval.  They  think  the  Divine  person, 
as  well  as  the  human  soul,  of  Christ  was  conveyed 
to  Hades  to  satisfy  w^hat  they  call  the  law  of  death. 
Does  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  pass  over  in  silence 
the  descent  into  Hades  and  the  resurrection  ?  On  the 
other  hand,  if  our  author  means  that  Christ  entered  the 
holiest  place  immediately  at  His  death,  we  are  met  by 
the  difficulty  that  He  leaves  the  holiest,  to  return 
finally  at  His  ascension,  whereas  the  Apostle  has 
argued  that  Christ  differs  from  the  high-priests  under 
the  former  covenant  in  that  He  does  not  enter 
repeatedly.  Much  of  the  confusion  has  arisen  from 
the  tendency  of  theologians,  under  the  influence  of 
Augustine,  to  construct  their  systems  exclusively  on 
the  lines  of  St.  Paul.  In  his  Epistles  atonement  is  a 
forensic  conception.  "Through  one  act  of  righteous- 
ness the  free  gift  came  unto  all  men  to  the  justification 
of  life."*  Consequently  the  death  of  Christ  is  con- 
trasted with  His  present  life.  "  For  the  death  that  He 
died,  He  died  unto  sin  once ;  but  the  life  that  He  hveth, 
He  liveth  unto  God."  f  But  our  author  does  not  put 
his  doctrine  in  a  Pauline  framework.     Instead  of  forensic 


*  Rom.  V.  18.  f  Rom.  vi.  ip. 


172  THE  EPISTLE    TO    THE  HEBREWS. 

notions,  we  meet  with  terms  pertaining  to  ritual  and 
priesthood.  What  St.  Paul  speaks  of  as  law  is,  in  his 
language,  a  covenant,  and  what  is  designated  justifica- 
tion in  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  appears  here  as 
sanctification.  Conscience  is  purified ;  the  worshipper 
is  perfected.  The  entering  of  the  high-priest  into 
the  holiest  place  is  as  prominent  as  the  slaying  of  the 
victim.  These  are  two  distinct,  but  inseparable,  parts 
of  one  priestly  action.  All  that  lies  between  is 
ignored.  It  is  as  if  it  were  not.  Christ  entered  into 
the  holiest  through  His  death  and  ascension  to  the 
right  hand  of  the  Majesty.  But  the  initial  and  the 
ultimate  stages  of  the  act  must  not  be  put  asunder. 
Nothing  comes  between.  Our  author  elsewhere 
speaks  of  Christ's  resurrection  as  a  historical  fact.* 
But  His  resuirection  does  not  form  a  distinct  notion  in 
the  idea  of  His  entrance  into  the  holiest  place. 

The  Apostle  has  spoken  of  the  former  covenant  Vvith 
surprising  severity,  not  to  say  harshness.  It  was  the 
law  of  a  carnal  commandment ;  it  has  been  set  aside 
because  of  its  weakness  and  unprofitableness ;  it  has 
grown  old  and  v.axed  aged ;  it  was  nigh  unto  vanish- 
ing away.  His  austere  language  will  compare  wi:h 
St.  Paul's  description  of  heathenism  as  a  bondage  to 
weak  and  beggarly  elements. 

*  Chap.  xiii.  20. 


ix.  I5-X.  i8.]  THE  NEW  COVENANT.  173 

The  root  of  all  the  mischief  was  unreality.  Our 
author  brings  his  argument  to  a  close  by  contrasting 
the  shadow  and  the  substance,  the  unavailing  sacrifices 
of  the  Law,  which  could  only  renew  the  remembrance 
of  sins,  and  the  sacrifice  of  the  Son,  which  has  fulfilled 
the  will  of  God. 

The  Law  had  only  a  shadow.*  He  is  careful  not  to 
say  that  the  Law  was  itself  but  a  shadow.  On  the 
contrary,  the  very  promise  includes  that  God  will  put 
His  laws  in  the  heart  and  write  them  upon  the  mind. 
This  was  one  of  "  the  good  things  to  come."  Endless 
repetition  of  sacrifice  after  sacrifice  year  by  year  in  a 
weary  round  of  ceremonies  only  made  it  more  and 
more  evident  that  men  were  walking  in  a  vain  show 
and  disquieting  themselves  in  vain.  The  Law  was  holy, 
righteous,  and  good  ;  but  the  manifestation  of  its 
nature  in  sacrifices  was  unreal,  like  the  dark  outline 
of  an  object  that  breaks  the  stream  of  light.  Nothing 
more  substantial,  as  a  revelation  of  God's  moral  cha- 
racter, was  befitting  or  possible  in  that  stage  of  human 
development,  when  the  purposes  of  His  grace  also  not 
seldom  found  expression  in  dreams  of  the  night  and 
apparitions  of  the  day. 

To  prove  the  unreal  nature  of  these  ever-recurring 
sacrifices,    the     writer     argues     that    otherwise    they 

*  Chap.  X.  I. 


174  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS. 

would  have  ceased  to  be  offered,  inasmuch  as  the 
worshippers,  if  they  had  been  once  really  cleansed 
from  their  guilt,  would  have  had  no  more  conscience 
of  sins.*  The  reasoning  is  very  remarkable.  It  is  not 
that  God  would  have  ceased  to  require  sacrifices,  but 
that  the  worshipper  would  have  ceased  to  offer  them. 
It  implies  that,  when  a  sufficient  atonement  for  sin  has 
been  offered  to  God,  the  sinner  knows  it  is  sufficient, 
and,  as  the  result,  has  peace  of  conscience.  The  pos- 
sibility of  a  pardoned  sinner  still  fearing  and  doubting 
does  not  seem  to  have  occurred  to  the  Apostle.  One 
difference  apparently  between  the  saints  under  the  Old 
Testament  and  believers  under  the  New  is  the  joyful 
assurance  of  pardon  which  the  latter  receive,  whereas 
the  former  were  all  their  lifetime  subject  to  bondage 
from  fear  of  death,  and  that  although  in  the  one  case 
the  sacrifice  was  offered  by  the  worshipper  himself 
through  the  priest,  but  in  the  latter  case  by  Another, 
even  Christ,  on  his  behalf.  And  we  must  not  ask  the 
Apostle  such  questions  as  these  :  Are  we  not  in  danger 
of  deceiving  ourselves  ?  How  is  the  assurance  created 
and  kept  alive  ?  Does  it  spring  spontaneously  in  the 
heart,  or  is  it  the  acceptance  of  the  authoritative 
absolution  of  God's  ministers  ?  Such  problems  were 
not  thought  of  when  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  was 

*  Chap.  X.  2. 


ix.  I5-X.  i8.]  THE  NEW  COVENANT,  175 

written.  They  belong  to  a  later  and  more  subjective 
state  of  mind.  To  men  who  cannot  leave  off  introspec- 
tion and  forget  themselves  in  the  joy  of  a  new  faith, 
the  Apostle's  argument  will  have  little  force  and 
perhaps   less   meaning. 

If  the  sacrifices  were  unreal,  why,  we  naturally 
inquire,  were  they  continually  repeated  ?  The  answer 
is  that  there  were  two  sides  to  the  sacrificial  rites  of 
the  old  covenant.  On  the  one  hand,  they  were,  like 
the  heathen  gods,  "  nothings ; "  on  the  other,  their 
empty  shadowiness  itself  fitted  them  to  be  a  Divinely 
appointed  means  to  call  sins  to  remembrance.  They 
represented  on  the  one  side  the  invincible,  though 
always  baffled,  effort  of  natural  conscience.  For  con- 
science was  endeavouring  to  purify  itself  from  a  sense 
of  guilt.  But  God  also  had  a  purpose  in  awakening 
and  disciplining  conscience.  The  worshipper  sought  to 
appease  conscience  through  sacrifice,  and  God,  by  the 
same  sacrifice,  proclaimed  that  reconciliation  had  not 
been  effected.  The  Apostle's  judgment  on  the  subject  * 
is  not  different  from  St.  Paul's  answer  to  the  question. 
What  then  is  the  Law  ?  ^'  It  was  added  because  of 
transgressions.  .  .  .  The  Scripture  hath  shut  up  all 
things  under  sin.  .  .  .  We  were  kept  in  ward  under 
the  Law.  .  .  .  We  were   held  in  bondage   under  the 

*  Chap.  X.  3. 


176  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS, 

rudiments  of  the  world."  *  In  allusion  to  this  idea, 
that  the  sacrifices  were  instituted  by  God  in  order  to 
renew  the  remembrance  of  sins  every  year,  Christ  said, 
"  Do  this  in  remembrance  of  Me^^ — of  Him  Who  hath 
put  away  sins  by  the  sacrifice  of  Himself. 

Such  then  was  the  shadow,  at  once  unreal  and  dark. 
In  contrast  to  it,  the  Apostle  designates  the  substance 
as  **  the  very  image  of  the  objects."  Instead  of  repeat- 
ing the  indefinite  expression  ^'  good  things  to  come," 
he  speaks  of  them  as  '' objects,"!  individually  distinct, 
substantial,  true.  The  image  J  of  a  thing  is  the  full 
manifestation  of  its  inmost  essence,  in  the  same  sense 
in  which  St.  Paul  says  that  the  Son  of  God's  love,  in 
Whom  we  have  our  redemption,  the  forgiveness  of  our 
sins,  is  the  image  of  the  invisible  God.  §  Indeed,  it  is 
extremely  questionable  whether  our  author  too  does 
not  refer  allusively  to  the  same  truth.  For,  in  the 
verses  that  follow,  he  contrasts  with  the  sacrifices  of 
the  former  covenant  the  coming  of  Jesus  Christ  into 
the  world  to  accomplish  the  work  which  they  had  failed 
to  do.  II  When  the  blood  of  bulls  and  goats  could  not 
take  away  sin,  inasmuch  as  it  was  an  unreal  atonement, 
God  prepared  a  body  for  His  own  eternal  Son.  The 
Son  responded  to  the  Divine  summons  and,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  prophecies  of  Scripture  concerning  Him, 


*  Gal.  iii.  19 — iv.  3.         J  ekom. 

t  TpoLyp.6.T03v  (x.  i).        §  Col.  i.  14,  15.        ||  Chap.  x.  5  sqq. 


ix.  iS-x.  i8.]  THE  NEW  COVENANT,  177 

came  from  heaven  to  earth  to  give  Himself  as  the 
sufficient  sacrifice  for  sin.  The  contrast,  as  heretofore, 
is  between  the  vanity  of  animal  sacrifices  and  the 
greatness  of  the  Son,  Who  offered  Himself.  His 
assumption  of  humanity  had  for  its  ultimate  end  to 
enable  the  Son  to  do  the  vi^ill  of  God.  The  gracious 
purpose  of  God  is  to  forgive  sin,  and  this  was  accom- 
plished by  the  infinite  humiliation  of  the  infinite  Son. 
God's  will  was  to  sanctify  us  ;  that  is,  to  remove  our 
guilt.*  We  have  actually  been  thus  sanctified  through 
the  one  offering  of  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ.  The 
sacrifices  of  the  Law  are  taken  out  of  the  way  in  order 
to  estabhsh  the  sacrifice  of  the  Son.  f 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  Apostle  is  not  contrast- 
ing sacrifice  and  obedience.  His  meaning  is  not 
precisely  the  same  as  the  prophet  Samuel's :  that  "  to 
obey  is  better  than  sacrifice,  and  to  hearken  than  the 
fat  of  rams."  \  It  is  perfectly  true  that  the  sacrifice  of 
the  Son  involved  obedience, — a  conscious,  deliberate, 
willing  obedience,  which  the  beasts  to  be  slain  in  sacri- 
fice could  not  offer.  The  idea  pervades  these  verses, 
as  an  atmosphere.  But  it  is  not  the  idea  expressed. 
The  dominant  thoughts  of  the  passage  are  the  great- 
ness of  the  Person  Who  obeyed  and  the  greatness  of 
the  sacrifice  from  which  His  obedience  did  not  shrink. 

*  Chap.  X.  10.  t  Chap.  x.  9.  %  \  Sam.  xv.  22. 

12 


178  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS. 

The  Son  is  here  represented  as  existing  and  acting 
apart  from  His  human  nature.*  He  comes  into  the 
world,  and  is  not  originated  in  the  world.  The  Christo- 
logy  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  is  identical  in 
this  vital  point  with  that  of  St.  Paul.  The  purpose  of 
the  Son's  coming  is  already  formed.  He  comes  to 
offer  His  body,  and  we  have  been  taught  in  a  previous 
chapter  that  He  did  this  with  an  eternal  spirit,  f  For 
the  will  of  God  means  our  sanctification,  in  the 
meaning  attached  to  the  word  "  sanctification  "  in  this 
Epistle,  the  removal  of  guilt,  the  forgiveness  of  sins. 
But  the  fulfilment  of  this  gracious  will  of  God  demands 
a  sacrifice,  even  a  sacrificial  death,  and  that  not  the 
death  of  beasts,  but  the  infinite  self-sacrifice  and 
obedience  unto  death  of  the  Son  of  God.  This  is 
implied  in  the  expression  "  the  offering  of  the  body  of 
Jesus  Christ."  % 

The  superstructure  of  argument  has  been  raised. 
Christ  as  High-priest  has  been  proved  to  be  superior 
to  the  high-priests  of  the  former  covenant.  It  remains 
only  to  lay  the  topstone  in  its  place.  This  brings  us 
back  to  our  starting  point.  Jesus  Christ,  the  eternal 
High-priest,  is  for  ever  King.  For  the  priests  under 
the  Law  stand  while  they  perform  the  duties  of  their 

*  Chap.  X.  7.  f  Chap.  ix.  14.  %  Chap.  x.  la 


ix.  I5-X.  i8.]  THE  NEW  COVENANT.  179 

ministry.*  They  stand  because  they  are  only  priests. 
But  Christ  has  taken  His  seat,  as  King,  on  the  right 
hand  of  God.  f  They  offer  the  same  sacrifices,  which 
can  never  take  away  sins,  and  wait,  and  wait,  but  in 
vain.  Though  they  are  priests  of  the  true  God,  yet 
they  wait,  Hke  the  priests  of  Baal,  from  morning  until 
midday  is  past  and  until  the  time  of  the  offering  of  the 
evening  sacrifice.  But  there  is  neither  voice  nor  any 
to  answer.  Christ  also  waits,  but  not  to  renew  an 
ineffectual  sacrifice.  He  waits  eagerly  %  to  receive 
from  God  the  reward  of  His  effective  sacrifice  in  the 
subjugation  of  His  enemies.  The  priests  under  the 
Law  had  no  enemies.  Their  persons  were  sacred. 
They  incurred  no  hatred,  inspired  no  love.  Our  High- 
priest  goes  out  to  war,  the  most  hated,  the  most  loved, 
of  all  captains  of  men. 

The  foundation  of  this  kingly  power  is  in  two  things  : 
first.  He  has  perfected  mien  for  ever  by  His  one  offer- 
ing ;  second,  He  has  put  the  law  of  God  into  the  hearts 
of  His  people.  The  final  conclusion  is  that  the  sacri- 
fices of  the  Law  have  passed  away,  because  they  are  no 
longer  needed.  "  For  where  there  is  forgiveness,  there 
is  no  more  an  offering  for  sin." 

*  Chap.  X.  II.  f  Chap.  x.  13.  %  eKdexo/xevos  (x.  13). 


AN  ADVANCE    IN    THE    EXHORTATION, 


"  Having  therefore,  brethren,  boldness  to  enter  into  the  holy  place 
by  the  blood  of  Jesus,  by  the  way  which  He  dedicated  for  us,  a  new  and 
living  way,  through  the  veil,  that  is  to  say,  His  flesh  ;  and  having  a  great 
Priest  over  the  house  of  God ;  let  us  draw  near  with  a  true  heart  in 
fulness  of  faith,  having  our  hearts  sprinkled  from  an  evil  conscience, 
and  our  body  washed  with  pure  water :  let  us  hold  fast  the  confession 
of  our  hope  that  it  waver  not ;  for  He  is  faithful  that  promised :  and  let 
us  consider  one  another  to  provoke  unto  love  and  good  works;  not 
forsaking  the  assembling  of  ourselves  together,  as  the  custom  of  some 
is,  but  exhorting  one  another ;  and  so  much  the  more,  as  ye  see  the  day 
drawing  nigh.  For  if  we  sin  wilfully  after  that  we  have  received  the 
knowledge  of  the  truth,  there  remaineth  no  more  a  sacrifice  for  sins, 
but  a  certain  fearful  expectation  of  judgment,  and  a  fierceness  of  fire 
which  shall  devour  the  adversaries.  A  man  that  hath  set  at  nought 
Moses'  law  dieth  without  compassion  on  the  word  of  two  or  three 
witnesses  :  of  how  much  sorer  punishment,  think  ye,  shall  he  be  judged 
worthy,  who  hath  trodden  under  foot  the  Son  of  God,  and  hath 
counted  the  blood  of  the  covenant,  wherewith  he  was  sanctified,  an 
unholy  thing,  and  hath  done  despite  unto  the  Spirit  of  grace?  For  we 
know  Him  that  said,  Vengeance  belongeth  unto  Me.  I  will  recom- 
pense. And  again,  The  Lord  shall  judge  His  people.  It  is  a  fearful 
thing  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  living  God.  But  call  to  remembrance 
the  former  days,  in  which,  after  ye  were  enlightened,  ye  endured  a  gjeat 
conflict  of  sufterings  ;  partly,  being  made  a  gazing-stock  both  by 
reproaches  and  afflictions  ;  and  partly,  becoming  partakers  with  them 
that  were  so  used.  For  ye  both  had  compassion  on  them  that  were 
in  bonds,  and  took  joyfully  the  spoiling  of  your  possessions,  knowing 
that  ye  yourselves  have  a  better  possession  and  an  abiding  one.  Cast 
not  away  therefore  your  boldness,  which  hath  great  recompense  of  reward. 
For  ye  have  need  of  patience,  that,  having  done  the  will  of  God,  ye 
may  receive  the  promise. 

For  yet  a  very  little  while. 

He  that  cometh  shall  come,  and  shall  not  tarry. 

But  My  righteous  one  shall  live  by  faith  : 

And  if  he  shrink  back.  My  soul  hath  no  pleasure  in  him. 
But  we  are  not  of  them  that  shrink  back  unto  perdition  ;  but  of  them 
that  have  faith  unto  the  savin?  of  the  soul." — Heb.  x.  19—39  (R.V.). 


CHAPTER    IX. 

AN  ADVANCE    IN    THE   EXHORTATION, 

''  I  ^HE  argument  is  closed.  Christ  is  the  eternal 
-*-  Priest  and  King,  and  every  rival  priesthood  or 
kingship  must  come  to  an  end.  This  is  the  truth  won 
by  the  Apostle's  original  and  profound  course  of 
reasoning.  But  he  has  in  view  practical  results.  He 
desires  to  confirm  the  Hebrew  Christians  in  their 
allegiance  to  Christ.  We  shall  be  better  able  to  under- 
stand the  precise  bearing  of  his  exhortation  if  we 
compare  it  with  the  appeal  previously  made  to  his 
readers  in  the  earlier  chapters  of  the  Epistle.*  At  the 
very  outset  he  plunged  into  the  midst  of  his  subject 
and  proved  that  Jesus  Christ  is  Son  of  God  and  re- 
presentative Man.  The  union  in  Christ  of  these  two 
quaHfications  constituted  Him  a  great  High-priest.  He 
is  able  to  succour  the  tempted ;  He  is  faithful  as  a  Son, 
Who  is  set  over  the  house  of  God ;  He  has  experienced 
the  bitter  humiliation  of  Hfe ;   He  is  perfected  as  our 

*  Chaps,  ii.  i — 5 ;  iii.  I,  6  ;  iv.  II,  16;  vi. 


l84  THE  EPISTLE    TO   THE   HEBREWS. 

Saviour,  and  has  passed  through  the  heavens.  The 
exhortation,  based  on  these  truths,  is  that  we  must  lay 
fast  hold  of  our  confidence. 

Then  come  the  big  wave,  the  hesitation  to  face  it, 
the  allegory  of  Melchizedek,  the  appeal  to  the  prophet 
Jeremiah,  the  comparison  between  the  old  covenant 
and  the  new.  But  the  argument  triumphs  and  ad- 
vances. Jesus  not  only  is  a  great  High-priest,  but  this 
is  interpreted  as  meaning  that  He  is  Priest  and  King, 
and  that  His  priesthood  and  power  will  never  pass 
away.  Their  eternal  duration  involves  the  setting 
aside  of  every  other  priesthood,  the  destruction  of 
every  opposing  force.  Christ  has  entered  into  the 
true  holiest  place  and  enthroned  Himself  on  the  mercy- 
seat. 

This  being  so,  the  Apostle  no  longer  urges  his 
readers  to  be  confident.  He  now  appeals  to  them  as 
having  confidence,*  in  virtue  of  the  blood  of  Jesus,  so 
that  they  tarry  not  in  the  precincts,  but  enter  them- 
selves into  the  holiest.  The  high-priest  alone  dared 
enter  under  the  former  covenant,  and  he  approached 
with  fear  and  trembling,  lest  he  also,  like  others  before 
him,  should  fall  down  dead  in  the  presence  of  God.  The 
exhortation  now  is,  not  to  confidence,  but  to  sincerity.t 
Let   their   confidence   become   more    objective.      They 

*  Chap.  X.  19.  f  yuerd  6Xy\Qi.V7j%  Kapdias  (x.  22). 


X.I9-39-]    AN  ADVANCE  IN  THE  EXHORTATION.        185 

had  the  boasting  of  hope.  Let  them  seek  the  silent, 
unboasting  assurance  that  is  grounded  on  faith,  on  the 
reaHsation  of  the  invisible.  Instead  of  believing  be- 
cause they  hoped,  let  them  hope  because  they  believed. 
In  the  earher  chapters  the  exhortation  rested  mainly 
on  what  Jesus  v^as  as  Son  over  God's  house.  Now, 
however,  the  Apostle  speaks  of  Him  as  a  great  *  Priest 
over  God's  house.  His  authority  over  the  Church 
springs,  not  only  from  His  relation  to  God,  but  also 
from  His  relation  to  men.  He  is  King  of  His  Church 
because  He  prays  for  it  and  blesses  it.  Through  His 
priesthood  our  hearts  are  cleansed  by  the  sprinkling  of 
His  blood  from  the  consciousness  of  sin.f  But  this 
blessing  of  the  individual  believer  is  now  closely  con- 
nected by  the  Apostle  with  the  idea  of  the  Church, 
over  which  Christ  is  King  in  virtue  of  His  priesthood 
on  its  behalf.  In  addition  to  the  cleansing  of  our 
hearts  from  an  evil  conscience,  our  bodies  have  been 
washed  with  pure  water.  The  Apostle  alludes  pri- 
marily in  both  clauses  to  the  rite  of  priestly  consecration. 
"  Moses  brought  Aaron  and  his  sons,  and  washed 
them  with  water."  He  also  "  took  of  the  blood  which 
was  upon  the  altar  and  sprinkled  it  upon  Aaron,  and 
upon  his  garments,  and  upon  his  sons,  and  upon  his 
sons'  garments  with   him,  and   sanctified   Aaron,  and 

*  iikri<xv  (x.  21).  t  ^^^  (rw€t5'7(rcw5  woyripas  (x.  22). 


i86  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS. 

his  garments,  and  his  sons,  and  his  sons*  garments 
with  him."  *  The  meaning  of  our  author  seems 
certainly  to  be  that  the  worshippers  have  the  privilege 
of  the  high-priest  himself.  They  lose  their  priestly 
character  only  in  the  more  excellent  glory  and  great- 
ness of  that  High-priest  through  Whom  they  have 
received  their  priesthood.  In  comparisofi  with  Him, 
they  are  but  humble  worshippers,  and  He  alone 
is  Priest.  In  contrast  to  the  world  around  them,  they 
also  are  priests  of  God.  But  the  words  of  the 
Apostle  contain  another  allusion.  Both  clauses  refer 
to  baptism.  The  mention  of  washing  the  "body" 
renders  it,  we  think,  unquestionable  that  baptism  is 
meant.  But  baptism  is  not  here  said  to  be  the  antitype 
of  the  priestly  consecration  of  the  old  covenant. 
One  rite  cannot  be  the  type  of  another  rite,  which 
is  itself  an  external  action.  The  solution  of  this  appa- 
rent difficulty  is  simply  that  both  clauses  together 
mean  baptism,  which  is  invariably  represented  in 
the  New  Testament  as  much  more  than  an  outward 
rite.  The  external  act  may  be  performed  without 
its  being  a  true  baptism.  For  the  meaning  of  baptism 
is  the  forgiveness  of  sin,  the  cleansing  of  the  heart  or 
innermost  consciousness  from  guilt,  and  the  reception 
of    the    absolved    sinner    into    the   Church    of    God. 

*  Lev.  viii.  6,  30. 


X.  19-39]    AN  ADVANCE  IN  THE  EXHORTATION.        187 

*^  Christ  loved  the  Church,  and  gave  Himself  up  for  it, 
that  He  might  sanctify  it,  having  cleansed  it  by  the 
washing  of  water  with  the  word."  * 

In  an  earlier  chapter  our  author  told  his  readers  that 
they  were  the  house  of  God  if  they  held  fast  their  con- 
fidence. He  does  not  repeat  it.  The  Church  con- 
sciousness has  sprung  up  within  them.  They  were 
previously  taught  to  look  steadfastly  at  Jesus  as  the 
Apostle  and  High-priest  of  their  confession.!  They  are 
now  urged  to  look  as  steadfastly  at  one  another  as 
fellow-confessors  of  the  same  Apostle  and  High-priest, 
and  to  sharpen  one  another's  love  and  activity  even  to 
the  point  of  jealousy.^  In  the  earlier  exhortation  no 
mention  was  made  of  the  Church  assemblies.  Here 
prominence  is  given  them.  Importance  is  attached  to 
the  words  of  encouragement  addressed  at  these  gather- 
ings of  believers.  Christian  habits  were  at  this  time 
forming  and  consolidating  into  customs  of  the  Church. 
Occasional  and  eccentric  manifestations  of  the  religious 
life  and  temperament  were  yielding  to  the  slow,  normal 
growth  of  true  vitality.  As  faithfulness  in  frequenting 
the  Church  assemblies  began  to  rank  among  the  fore-! 
most  virtues,  unfaithfulness  would,  by  force  of  contrast, 
harden  into  habitual  neglect  of  the  house  of  prayer : 
"As  the  custom  of  some  is."  §     • 

*  Eph.  V.  26.  \  els  irapo^va-fjiov  (x.  24). 

t  Chap.  iii.  i.  §  lOos  (x.  25). 


i88  THE  EPISTLE   TO    THE  HEBREWS. 

The  chief  of  all  reasons  for  exhorting  the  readers  to 
habitual  attendance  on  the  Church  assemblies  the 
writer  of  the  Epistle  finds  in  the  expectation  of  the 
Lord's  speedy  return.  They  could  see  for  themselves 
that  the  day  was  at  hand.  The  signs  of  the  Son  of 
man's  coming  were  multiplying  and  thrusting  them- 
selves on  the  notice  of  the  Church.  Perhaps  the  voice 
of  Joshua,  the  son  of  Hanan,  had  already  been  heard 
in  the  streets,  exclaiming,  "  Woe  to  Jerusalem  !  "  The 
holy  city  was  plainly  doomed.  But  Christ  will  come  to 
His  Church,  not  to  individuals.  He  will  not  be  found 
in  the  wilderness,  nor  in  the  inner  chambers.  "  As  the 
lightning  cometh  forth  from  the  east,  and  is  seen  even 
unto  the  west,  so  shall  be  the  coming  of  the  Son  of 
man.   * 

The  day  of  Christ  is  a  day  of  judgment.  The  two 
meanings  of  the  word  ''day," — day  in  contrast  to 
night,  and  day  as  a  fixed  time  for  the  transaction  of 
public  business, — coalesce  in  the  New  Testament  usage. 
The  second  idea  seems  to  have  gradually  superseded 
the  former. 

The  author  proceeds  to  unfold  the  dreadful  character 
of  this  day  of  judgment.  Here,  again,  the  precise 
force  of  his  declarations  will  best  appear  by  compa- 
rison with  the  warnings  of  the  first  part  of  the  Epistle 
in  reference  to  the  sin  and  to  the  punishment. 
*  Matt.  xxiv.  27. 


X.  I9-39-]    AN  ADVANCE  IN  THE  EXHORTATION.        189 

First,  the  sin  referred  to  here  has  a  wider  range  than 
the  transgression  spoken  of  in  the  second  chapter. 
For  there  he  mentions  the  special  sin  of  neglecting  so 
great  salvation.  But  in  the  present  passage  his  words 
seem  to  imply  that  rejection  of  Christ  has  given  birth 
to  a  progeny  of  evil  through  the  self-abandonment  of 
those  who  wilfully  persist  in  sinning,  as  if  from  reck- 
less bravado.*  The  special  guilt,  too,  of  rejecting 
Christ  is  here  painted  in  darker  hues.  For  in  the 
earlier  passage  it  is  indifference ;  here  it  is  contempt. 
In  the  former  case  it  is  ingratitude  to  a  merciful 
Saviour;  in  the  latter  it  is  treason  against  the  majesty 
of  God's  own  Son.  ''To  trample  under  foot"  means 
to  desecrate.  Christ  is  the  holy  High-priest  of  God, 
and  is  now  ministering  in  the  true  holiest  place. 
Therefore  to  choose  Judaism,  with  its  dead  rites,  and 
to  reject  the  living  Christ,  is  no  longer  the  action  of  a 
holy  zeal  for  God's  house.  Quite  the  reverse.  The 
sanctuary  of  Judaism  has  been  shorn  of  its  glory,  and 
its  sacredness  transferred  to  the  despised  Nazarene. 
To  tread  under  foot  the  Son  of  God  is  to  trample  with 
revel  rout  on  the  hallowed  floor  of  the  holiest  place. 
Further,  the  Apostle's  former  warnings  contained  no 
allusion  to  the  covenant.  Now  he  reminds  his  readers 
that  they  have  been  sanctified — that  is,  cleansed  from 

*  e\-oi/a-iws  (x.  26). 


I90  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS. 

guilt — through  the  blood  of  the  covenant.  Is  the  cleans- 
ing blood  itself  unclean  ?  Shall  we  deem  the  reeking 
gore  of  a  slain  beast  or  the  grey  ashes  of  a  burnt  heifer 
holy,  and  consider  the  blood  of  the  Christ,  Who  with  an 
eternal  spirit  offered  Himself  without  spot  to  God,  un- 
holy and  defiling  ?  *  Moreover,  that  eternal  spirit  in 
the  Son  of  God  is  a  spirit  of  grace  f  towards  men. 
But  His  infinite  compassion  is  spurned.  And  thus  the 
Apostle  brings  us  once  more  %  in  sight  of  the  hopeless 
character  of  cynicism. 

Second^  the  punishment  is  partly  negative.  A  sacri- 
fice for  sins  is  no  more  left  to  men  who  have  spurned 
the  sacrifice  of  the  Son.§  Here  again  we  notice  an 
advance  in  the  thought.  The  Apostle  told  his  readers 
before  that  it  is  impossible  to  renew  to  repentance  those 
who  crucify  afresh  the  Son  of  God  and  put  Him  to  an 
open  shame.  But  the  impossibility  consists  in  hard- 
iTess  of  heart  and  spiritual  blindness.  The  result  also 
is  subjective, — they  cannot  repent.  He  now  adds  the 
impossibility  of  finding  another  propitiation  than  the 
offering  of  Christ  or  of  finding  in  His  offering  a 
different  kind  of  propitiation,  seeing  that  He  is  the 
final  revelation  of  God's  forgiving  grace.  Then,  further, 
the  punishment  has  a  positive  side.  After  hardness  of 
heart  comes   stinging  remorse,  arising    from  a  vague, 

*  Chap.  X.  29.  X  See  chap.  vi.  6. 

f  irvevfJLa  ttjs  xapiros.  §  Chap.  x.  26. 


X.  I9-39-]    AN  ADVANCE  IN  THE  EXHORTATION.        191 

but  on  that  account  all  the  more  fearful,  expectation 
of  the  judgment.  The  abject  terror  is  amply  justified. 
For  the  fury*  of  a  fire,  already  kindling  around  the 
doomed  city,  warns  the  Hebrew  backsliders  that  the 
Christ  so  wilfully  scoffed  at  is  at  the  door.  Observe 
the  contrast.  The  law  of  Moses  is  on  occasion  set 
aside.  The  matter  is  almost  private.  Only  two  or 
three  persons  witnessed  it.f  Its  evil  influence  did  not 
spread,  and  when  the  criminal  was  led  out  to  be  stoned 
to  death,  they  who  passed  by  went  their  way  unheed- 
ing. The  Christ  of  God  is  put  to  an  open  shame  ;  %  the 
covenant,  for  ever  established  on  the  sure  foundation 
of  God's  oath  and  Christ's  death,  and  the  spirit  of  all 
grace  that  filled  the  heart  of  Christ  are  mocked.  Of 
how  much  sorer  punishment  shall  Christ  at  His  speedy 
coming  deem  the  scorner  worthy  ?  The  answer  is  left 
by  the  Apostle  to  his  readers.  They  knew  with  Whom 
they  had  to  do.§  It  was  not  with  angels,  the  swift 
messengers  and  flaming  ministers  of  His  power.  It 
was  not  with  Moses,  who  himself  exceedingly  feared  and 
quaked.  |1  It  was  not  with  the  blind  pressure  of  fate. 
They  had  to  do  with  the  living  God  Himself  directly. 
He  will  lay  upon  them  His  living  hand, — the  hand  that 
might  and,  if  they  had  not  spurned  it,  would  have 
protected  and  saved.     Retribution  descends  swift  and 

*  i'^Xos  (x.  27).        t  Chap.  X.  28.       X  Trapadeiyfiarl^ovTai  (vi.  6), 
§  Chap.  iii.  12.  ||  Chap.  xii.  21. 


192  THE  EPISTLE    TO   THE  HEBREWS, 

resistless.  It  can  only  be  likened  to  a  sudden  falling 
into  the  very  hands  of  a  waiting  avenger.*  He  will 
not  entrust  the  work  of  vengeance  to  another.  No 
extraneous  agent  shall  come  between  the  smiting  hand 
and  the  heart  that  burns  with  the  anger  of  the  sincere 
against  the  false,  of  the  compassionate  against  the 
pitiless.  Does  not  Scripture  teach  that  the  Lord  will 
execute  judgment  on  behalf  of  His  people  ?  f  If  on 
behalf  of  His  people,  will  He  not  enter  into  judgment 
for  His  Son  ? 

From  the  terrible  expectation  of  future  judgment  the 
Apostle  turns  away,  to  recall  to  his  readers  the  grounds 
of  hope  supplied  by  their  steadfastness  in  the  past.  He 
has  already  spoken  of  their  work  and  the  love  which 
they  had  shown  in  ministering  to  the  saints.  J  God's 
justice  would  not  forget  their  brotherly  kindness.  Now, 
however.  His  purpose  in  bidding  them  remember  the 
former  days  is  something  different.  He  writes  to  con- 
vince them  that  they  needed  no  other  and  greater 
confidence  to  face  the  future  than  had  carried  them 
triumphantly  through  conflicts  in  days  of  yore.  They 
had  endured  sufferings ;  let  them  conquer  their  own 
indifference  and  put  away  their  cynicism  with  the  lofty 
disdain  of  earnest  faith.  The  courage  that  could  do 
the  former  can  also  do  the  latter. 

•  eyw7re<r<iv,  f  Deut.  xxxii.  36.  \  Chap.  vi.  10. 


X.  I9-39-]    AN  ADVANCE  IN  THE  EXHORTATION.        193 

From  the  first  break  of  day  in  their  souls*  they  had 
felt  the  confidence  of  men  who  walk,  not  in  darkness, 
not  knowing  whither  they  go  and  fearing  to  take 
another  step,  but  in  the  light,  so  that  they  trod  firmly 
and  stepped  boldly  onward.  Their  confidence  was 
based  on  conviction  and  understanding  of  truth.  For 
that  reason  it  inspired  them  with  the  courage  of 
athletes,!  when  they  had  to  endure  also  the  shame  of 
the  arena.  Made  a  gazing-stock  to  a  scoffing  theatre, 
they  had  not  turned  pale  at  the  roar  of  the  wild 
beasts.  Instead  of  tamely  submitting,  they  had  turned 
their  sufferings  into  a  veritable  contest  against  the 
world,  and  maintained  the  conflict  long4  Taunted  by 
the  spectators,  torn  by  the  lions,  reproaches  and 
afflictions  alike  had  been  ineffectual  to  break  their 
spirit.  When  they  witnessed  the  prolonged  tortures 
of  their  brethren  whose  Christian  life  was  one  martyr- 
dom, §  they  had  not  shrunk  from  the  like  usage.  They 
had  pitied  the  brethren  in  prisons  and  visited  them. 
They  had  taken  joyfully  the  spoiling  of  their  substance, 
knowing  that  now  they  had  themselves,  ||  as  a  better 
and  an  abiding  possession.  If  they  had  lost  the  world, 
they  had  gained  for  themselves  their  souls.^     As  true 


♦  4>(jiTi(yQkvT0.<i  (x.  32).  §   o\}T03<i  dvaarpecpofxeviau  (x.  33). 

t  &e\r]<np.  II   Reading  eavrovs  (x.  34). 

J  TToW-qu,  H  ds  wepLTToirjcnv  (x.  39), 

13 


194  "^HE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS. 


athletes,  therefore,  let  them  not  throw  away  *  their 
sword,  which  is  no -other  than  their  old,  undaunted 
confidence.  There  was  none  like  that  sword.  Their 
victory  was  assured.  Their  reward  would  be,  not  the 
plaudits  of  the  fickle  onlookers,  but  the  fulfilment  of 
God's  promise  to  Abraham.  They  had  need  of  en- 
durance, because  in  enduring  they  were  doing  the  will 
of  God.  But  the  Deliverer  would  be  with  them  in  a 
twinkling.f  He  had  delayed  His  chariot  wheels,  but 
He  would  delay  no  more.  Hear  ye  not  His  voice  ?  It  is 
He  that  speaks  in  the  words  of  the  prophet,  "  Those 
whom  I  deny  will  perish  out  of  the  way.  But  I  have 
My  righteous  ones  %  here  and  there,  unseen  by  the 
world,  and  out  of  their  faith  will  be  wrought  for  them 
eternal  life.  But  let  even  Mine  own  beware  of  lowering 
sail.  My  soul  will  have  no  delight  even  in  him  if  he 
draws  back." 

The  Apostle  reflects  on  the  words  of  Christ  in  the 
prophecy  of  Habakkuk.  But  he  has  an  assured  hope 
that  he  and  his  readers  would  repudiate  the  thought 
of  drawing  back.  They  were  men  of  faith,  bent  on 
winning  §  the  prize  of  the  high  calling  of  God  in  Christ 
Jesus;  and  the  prize  would  be  their  own  souls. 
May  we  not  conjecture  that  the  Apostle's  fervid  appeal 
prevailed  with  the  Christians  within  the  doomed  city 

*  )tt7j  aTTo/SctXr/Te.  \  Reading  iiov  (x.  38). 

•j"   uiKpov  baov  6aov  (x.  37),  §  Trepnroirjaiv  (x.  39). 


X.  19-39]    AN  ADVANCE  IN  THE  EXHORTATION.        19S 

"to  break  the  last  bands  of  patriotism  and  superstition 
which  attached  them  to  the  Temple  and  the  altar,  and 
proclaim  themselves  missionaries  of  the  new  faith, 
without  a  backward  glance  of  lingering  reminis- 
cence "  ?  * 

•  Dean  Merivale,  Romans  under  the  Empire,  chap,  lix. 


FAITH  AN  ASSURANCE  AND  A  PROOF, 


**  Now  faith  is  the  assurance  of  things  hoped  for,  the  proving  of  things 
not  seen.  For  therein  the  elders  had  witness  borne  to  them.  By  faith 
we  understand  that  the  worlds  have  been  framed  by  the  word  of  God, 
so  that  what  is  seen  hath  not  been  made  out  of  things  which  do 
appear."— Heb.  xi.  1—3  (R.V.). 


CHAPTER    X.. 

FAITH  AN  ASSURANCE  AND  A  PROOF, 

T  T  is  often  said  that  one  of  the  greatest  difficulties 
-*-  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  is  to  discover  any 
real  connection  of  ideas  between  the  author's  general 
purpose  in  the  previous  discussion  and  the  splendid 
record  of  faith  in  the  eleventh  chapter.  The  rhetorical 
connection  is  easy  to  trace.  His  utterances  throughout 
have  been  incentives  to  confidence.  '^  Let  us  hold 
fast  our  confession."  '*  Let  us  draw  near  with  bold- 
ness unto  the  throne  of  grace."  ^'  Show  diligence 
unto  the  full  assurance  of  hope."  ^'  Cast  not  away 
your  boldness."  Any  of  these  exhortations  would 
sufficiently  describe  the  Apostle's  practical  aim  from 
the  beginning  of  the  Epistle.  But  he  has  just  cited 
the  words  of  Habakkuk,  and  the  prophet  speaks  of 
faith.  HoW;  then,  does  the  prophet's  declaration  that 
the  righteous  man  of  God  will  escape  death  by  his 
faith  bear  on  the  Apostle's  arguments  or  help  his 
strong  appeals  ?  The  first  verse  of  the  eleventh 
chapter  is  the  reply.  Faith  is  assurance,  with 
emphasis  on  the  verb. 


200  THE  EPISTLE   TO    THE  HEBREWS. 

But  this  is  only  a  rhetorical  connection,  or  at  best 
a  justification  of  the  use  the  author  has  made  of  the 
prophet's  words.  Indeed,  he  has  already  in  several 
places  identified  confidence  with  faith,  and  the  opposite 
of  confidence  with  unbelief.  "  Take  heed  lest  there 
be  in  any  one  of  you  an  evil  heart  of  unbelief;  ,  .  . 
for  we  are  become  partakers  of  Christ  if  we  hold  fast 
the  beginning  of  our  confidence  firm  unto  the  end."  * 
"They  could  not  enter  in  because  of  unbelief;  .  .  . 
let  us  therefore  give  diligence  to  enter  into  that  rest, 
that  no  man  fall  after  the  same  example  of  dis- 
obedience." t  "  Be  not  sluggish,  but  imitators  of  them 
who  through  faith  and  patience  inherit  the  promises."! 
"  Having  therefore  boldness  to  enter  into  the  holy 
place,  ...  let  us  draw  near  with  a  true  heart  in 
fulness  of  faith."  § 

Why,  therefore,  does  the  author  formally  state  that 
faith  is  confidence  ?  The  difficulty  is  a  real  one.  We 
must  suppose  that,  when  this  Epistle  was  written,  the 
word  *'  faith  "  was  already  a  well-known  and  almost 
technical  term  among  Christians.  We  infer  as  much 
as  this  also  from  St.  James's  careful  and  stringent 
correction  of  abuses  in  the  application  of  the  word. 
It  is  unnecessary  to  say  who  was  the  first  to  perceive 
the  vital  importance  of  faith  in  the  life  and  theology 

*  Chap.  iii.  12.  %  Chap.  vi.  12. 

t  Chaps,  iii.  I9;iv.  n.  §  Chap.  x.  19. 


xi.  1-3.]    FAITH  AN  ASSURANCE  AND  A   PROOF.  201 

of  Christianity.  But  in  the  preaching  of  St.  Paul  faith 
is  trust  in  a  personal  Saviour,  and  trust  is  the  condition 
and  instrument  of  salvation.  Faith,  thus  represented, 
is  the  opposite  of  works.  Such  a  doctrine  was  liable 
to  abuse,  and  has  been  abused  to  the  utter  subversion 
of  morality  on  the  one  hand  and  to  the  extinction  of 
all  unselfish  greatness  of  soul  on  the  other.  Not, 
most  certainly,  that  St.  Paul  himself  was  one-sided  in 
teaching  or  in  character.  To  him  Christ  is  a  heavenly 
ideal :  *^  The  Lord  is  the  Spirit ; "  and  to  him  the 
believer  is  the  spiritual  man,  who  has  the  moral 
intellect  of  Christ.*  But  it  must  be  confessed — and  the 
history  of  the  Church  abundantly  proves  the  truth  of 
the  statement — that  the  good  news  of  eternal  salvation 
on  the  sole  condition  of  trust  in  Christ  is  one  of  the 
easiest  of  all  true  doctrines  to  be  fatally  abused.  The 
Epistle  of  St.  James  and  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews 
seem  to  have  been  written  to  meet  this  danger.  The 
former  represents  faith  as  the  inner  life  of  the  spirit, 
the  fountain  of  all  active  goodness.  "  Faith,  if  it  have 
not  works,  is  dead  in  itself.  Yea,  a  man  will  say, 
Thou  hast  faith,  and  I  have  works ;  show  me  thy  faith 
apart  from  thy  works,  and  I  by  my  works  will  show 
thee  my  faith."  f  St.  James  contends  against  the 
earliest  phases  of  Antinomianism.     He  reconciles  faith 

*  2  Cor.  iii.  17  ;  I  Cor.  ii.  16.  \  James  ii.  17,  18. 


ao3  THE  EPISTLE    TO    THE  HEBREWS. 

and  morality,  and  maintains  that  the  highest  morality 
springs  out  of  faith.  The  writer  of  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews  contends  against  legalism, — the  proud,  self- 
satisfied,  indifferent,  hard,  slothful,  contemptuous, 
cynical  spirit,  which  is  quite  as  truly  and  as  often  an 
abuse  of  the  doctrine  of  salvation  through  faith.  It  is 
the  terrible  plague  of  those  Churches  which  have  never 
risen  above  individualism.  When  men  are  told  that 
the  whole  of  rehgion  consists  in  securing  the  soul's 
eternal  safety,  and  that  this  salvation  is  made  sure 
once  for  all  by  a  moment's  trust  in  Christ,  their  after- 
life will  harden  into  a  worldliness,  not  gross  and 
sensual,  but  pitiless  and  deadening.  They  will  put 
on  the  garb  of  religious  decorum;  but  the  inner  life 
will  be  eaten  by  the  canker  of  covetousness  and  self- 
righteous  pride.  These  are  the  men  described  in  the 
sixth  chapter  of  our  Epistle,  who  have,  after  a  fashion, 
repented  and  believed,  but  whose  religion  has  no 
recuperative  power,  let  alone  the  growth  and  richness 
of  deep  \'itality. 

Our  author  addresses  men  whose  spiritual  life  was 
thus  imperilled.  Their  condition  is  not  that  of  the 
heathen  world  in  its  agony  of  despair.  He  does  not 
call  his  readers,  in  the  words  of  St  Paul  to  the  jailer 
at  Philippi,  to  trust  themselves  into  the  hands  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  they  may  be  saved.  Yet  he 
too  insists  on  faith.     He  is  anxious  to  show  them  that 


xL  1-3.]    FAITH  AN  ASSURANCE  AND  A   PROOF,  203 

he  is  not  preaching  another  gospel,  but  unfolding  the 
meaning  of  the  same  conception  of  faith,  which  is  the 
central  principle  of  the  Gospel  revealed  at  the  first  by 
Christ  to  their  fathers,  and  applied  to  the  wants  of  the 
heathen  by  the  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles. 

If  so,  it  goes  without  saying  that  the  writer  does  not 
intend  to  give  a  scholastic  definition  of  faith.  The 
New  Testament  is  not  the  book  in  which  to  seek  formal 
definitions.  For  his  present  purpose  we  require  only 
to  know^  that,  whatever  else  faith  includes,  confidence 
in  reference  to  the  objects  of  our  hope  must  find  a 
place  in  it.  Faith  bridges  over  the  chasm  between 
hope  and  the  things  hoped  for.  It  saves  us  from 
building  castles  in  the  air  or  living  in  a  fool's  paradise. 
The  phantoms  of  worldliness  and  the  phantoms  of 
religion  (for  they  too  exist)  will  not  deceive  us.  In 
the  course  of  his  discussion  in  the  Epistle  the  author 
has  used  three  different  words  to  set  forth  various  sides 
of  the  same  feeling  of  confidence.  One  refers  to  the 
freedom  and  boldness  with  which  the  confidence  felt 
manifests  its  presence  in  words  and  action.*  Another 
signifies  the  fulness  of  conviction  with  which  the  mind 
when  confident  is  saturated. t  The  third  word,  which 
we  have  in  the  present  passage,  describes  confidence 
as  a  reality,  resting  on  an  unshaken  foundation,  and 

*  Tapf,ri<Tia.  f  T\r)po<popia. 


204  THE  EPISTLE    TO   THE  HEBREWS. 


contrasted  with  illusions.*  He  has  urged  Christians 
to  boldness  of  action  and  fulness  of  conviction.  Now 
he  adds  that  faith  is  that  boldness  and  that  wealth  of 
certitude  in  so  far  as  they  rest  upon  reaHty  and  truth. 

We  can  now  in  some  measure  estimate  the  value  of 
the  Apostle's  description  of  faith  as  an  assurance  con- 
cerning things  hoped  for,  and  apply  it  to  give  force 
to  the  exhortations  of  the  Epistle.  The  evil  heart  of 
unbelief  is  the  moral  corruption  of  the  man  whose  soul 
is  steeped  in  sensual  imaginations  and  never  realises 
the  things  of  the  Spirit.  They  who  came  out  of  Egypt 
by  Moses  could  not  enter  into  rest  because  they  did  not 
descry,  beyond  the  earthly  Canaan,  the  rest  of  the 
spirit  in  God.  Others  inherit  the  promises,  because 
on  earth  they  lifted  their  hearts  to  the  heavenly 
country.  In  short,  the  Apostle  now  tells  his  readers 
that  the  true  source  of  Christian  constancy  and  boldness 
is  the  realisation  of  the  unseen  world. 

But  faith  is  this  assurance  concerning  things  hoped 
for  because  it  is  a  proof  f  of  their  existence,  and  of  the 
existence  of  the  unseen  generally.  The  latter  part  of 
the  verse  is  the  broad  foundation  on  which  faith  rests 
in  all  the  rich  variety  of  its  m.eanings  and  practical 
applications.  Here  St.  Paul,  St.  James,  and  the  writer 
of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  meet  in  the  unity  of  their 

*  virtaTaais.  f  tXeyxos. 


xi.  1-3.      FAITH  AN  ASSURANCE  AND  A   PROOF.  205 

conception.  Whether  men  trust  unto  salvation,  or 
develop  their  inner  spiritual  life,  or  enter  into  com- 
munion with  God  and  lift  the  weapon  of  unflinching 
boldness  in  the  Christian  warfare,  trust,  character,  con- 
fidence, all  three  derive  their  being  and  vitality  from 
faith,  as  it  demonstrates  the  existence  of  the  unseen. 

The  Apostle's  language  is  a  seeming  contradiction. 
Proof  is  usually  supposed  to  dispense  with  faith  and 
compel  us  to  accept  the  inference  drawn.  He  inten- 
tionally describes  faith  as  occupying  in  reference  to 
spiritual  realities  the  place  of  demonstration.  Faith  in 
the  unseen  is  itself  a  proof  that  the  unseen  world 
exists.     It  is  so  in  two  ways. 

First,  we  trust  our  own  moral  instincts.  Male- 
branche  observes  that  our  passions  justify  themselves. 
How  much  more  is  this  true  of  intellect  and  conscience  ! 
In  like  manner,  some  men  have  firm  confidence  in  a 
world  of  spiritual  realities,  which  eye  has  not  seen. 
This  confidence  is  itself  a  proof  to  them.  How  do  I 
know  that  I  know  ?  It  is  a  philosopher's  enigma. 
For  us  it  may  be  sufficient  to  say  that  to  know  and 
to  know  that  we  know  are  one  and  the  same  act. 
How  do  we  justify  our  faith  in  the  unseen  ?  The 
answer  is  similar.  It  is  the  same  thing  to  trust  and  to 
trust  our  trust.  Scepticism  wins  a  cheap  victory  when 
it  arraigns  faith  as  a  culprit  caught  in  the  very  act  of 
stealing   the  forbidden  fruit  of  paradise.     But   when. 


2o6  THE  EPISTLE    TO   THE  HEBREWS. 

like  a  guilty  thing,  faith  blushes  for  its  want  of  logic, 
its  only  refuge  is  to  look  in  the  face  of  the  unseen 
Father.  He  who  has  most  faith  in  his  own  spiritual 
instincts  will  have  the  strongest  faith  in  God.  To 
trust  God  is  to  trust  ourselves.  To  doubt  ourselves  is 
to  doubt  God.  We  must  add  that  there  is  a  sense  in 
which  trust  in  God  means  distrust  of  self. 

Second^  faith  fastens  directly  on  God  Himself. 
We  believe  in  God  because  we  impose  implicit  con- 
fidence in  our  own  moral  nature.  With  equal  truth 
we  may  also  say  that  we  believe  all  else  because 
we  beheve  in  God.  Faith  in  God  Himself  imme- 
diately and  personally  is  the  proof  that  the  promises 
are  true,  that  our  life  on  earth  is  linked  to  a  life 
above,  that  patient  well-doing  will  have  its  reward, 
that  no  good  deed  can  be  in  vain,  and  ten  thousand 
other  thoughts  and  hopes  that  sustain  the  drooping 
spirit  in  hours  of  conflict.  It  may  well  happen  that 
some  of  these  truths  are  legitimate  inferences  from 
premises,  or  it  may  be  that  a  calculation  of  proba- 
bilities is  in  favour  of  their  truth.  But  faith  trusts 
itself  upon  them  because  they  are  worthy  of  God. 
Sometimes  the  silence  of  God  is  enough,  if  an  aspira- 
tion of  the  soul  is  felt  to  be  such  that  it  became  Him 
to  implant  it  and  will  be  glorious  in  Him  to  reward 
the   heaven-sent  desire. 

An  instance  of  faith  as  a  proof  of  the  unseen  is  given 


xi.  1-3.]    FAITH  AN  ASSURANCE  AND  A   PROOF.  207 

by  our  author  in  the  third  verse.  We  may  paraphrase 
it  thus  :  '^  By  faith  we  know  that  the  ages  have  been 
constructed  by  the  word  of  God,  and  that  even  to  this 
point  of  assurance :  that  the  visible  universe  as  a  whole 
came  not  into  being  out  of  things  that  do  appear." 

The  author  began  in  the  previous  verse  to  unroll  his 
magnificent  record  of  the  elders.  But  from  the  begin- 
ning men  found  themselves  in  the  presence  of  a  mystery 
of  the  past  before  they  received  any  promise  as  to  the 
future.  It  is  the  mystery  of  creation.  It  has  pressed 
heavily  on  men  in  all  ages.  The  Apostle  himself  has 
felt  its  power,  and  speaks  of  it  as  a  question  which  his 
readers  and  himself  have  faced.  How  do  we  know 
that  the  development  of  the  ages  had  a  beginning  ?  If 
it  had  a  beginning,  how  did  it  begin  ?  The  Apostle 
replies  that  we  know  it  by  faith.  The  revelation  which 
we  have  received  from  God  addresses  itself  to  our 
moral  perception  and  our  confidence  in  God's  moral 
nature.  We  have  been  taught  that  **  in  the  beginning 
God  created  the  heaven  and  the  earth,"  and  that  "  God 
said,  Let  there  be  light."  *  Faith  demands  this  revela- 
tion. Is  faith  trust  ?  That  trust  in  God  is  our  proof 
that  the  framework  of  the  world  was  put  together  by 
His  creative  wisdom  and  power.  Is  faith  the  inner  life 
of  righteousness  ?     Morality    requires    that   our   own 

*  Gen.  i.  I,  3. 


2o8  THE  EPISTLE    TO    THE  HEBREWS, 

consciousness  of  personality  and  freedom  should  be 
derived  from  a  Divine  personality  as  the  Originator 
of  all  things.  Is  faith  communion  with  God  ?  Those 
who  pray  know  that  prayer  is  an  absolute  necessity  of 
their  spiritual  nature,  and  pra3^er  lifts  its  voice  to  a 
living  Father.  Faith  demonstrates  to  him  who  has  it, 
though  not  to  others,  that  the  universe  has  come  to  its 
present  form,  not  by  an  eternal  evolution  of  matter,  but 
by  the  action  of  God's  creative  energy. 

The  somewhat  peculiar  form  of  the  clause  seems 
certainly  to  suggest  that  the  Apostle  ascribes  the  origin 
of  the  universe,  not  only  to  a  personal  Creator,  but  to 
that  personal  Creator  acting  through  the  ideas  of  His 
own  mind.  "  The  visible  came  into  being,  not  out  of 
things  that  appear."  We  catch  ourselves  waiting  till 
he  finishes  the  sentence  with  the  words,  ''  but  out  of 
thirgs  that  do  not  appear."  Most  expositors  fight  shy 
of  the  inference  and  explain  it  away  by  alleging  that 
the  negative  has  been  misplaced.*  But  is  it  not  true 
that  the  universe  is  the  manifestation  of  thought  in  the 
unity  of  the  Divine  purpose  ?  This  is  the  very  notion 
required  to  complete  the  Apostle's  statement  concerning 
faith  as  a  proof  If  faith  demonstrates,  it  acts  on 
principles.  If  God  is  personal,  those  principles  are 
ideas,  thoughts,  purposes,  of  the  Divine  mind. 

*  As  if  At/?  e/f  (})a.i.voixiviov  were  for  eK  fxij  (paivofiivuft 


xi.  1-3.]    FAITH  AN  ASSURANCE  AND  A   PROOF.  209 

So  long,  therefore,  as  our  spiritual  nature  can  trust, 
can  unfold  a  morality,  can  pray,  the  simple  soul  need  not 
much  bewail  its  want  of  logic  and  its  loss  of  arguments. 
If  the  famous  ontological  argument  for  the  being  of 
God  has  been  refuted,  we  shall  not,  on  that  account, 
tremble  for  the  ark.  We  shall  not  lament  though  the 
argument  from  the  watch  has  proved  treacherous. 
Our  God  is  not  a  mere  infinite  mechanician.  Indeed, 
such  a  phrase  is  a  contradiction  in  terms.  A  mechani- 
cian must  be  finite.  He  contrives,  and  as  the  result 
produces,  not  what  is  absolutely  best,  but  what  is  the 
best  possible  under  the  circumstances  and  with  the 
materials  at  his  disposal.  But  if  we  have  lost  the 
trechanician,  we  have  not  lost  the  God  that  thinks. 
We  have  gained  the  perfectly  righteous  and  perfectly 
good.  His  thoughts  have  manifested  themselves  in 
nature,  in  human  freedom,  in  the  incarnation  of  His 
Son,  in  the  redemption  of  sinners.  But  the  intellect 
that  knows  these  things  is  the  good  heart  of  faith. 


14 


THE  FAITH  OF  ABRAHAM, 


**  By  faith  Abraham,  when  he  was  called,  obeyed  to  go  out  unto  a 
place  which  he  was  to  receive  for  an  inheritance  ;  and  he  went  out,  not 
knowing  whither  he  went.  By  faith  he  became  a  sojourner  in  the  land 
of  promise,  as  in  a  land  not  his  own,  dwelling  in  tents,  with  Isaac  and 
Jacob,  the  heirs  with  him  of  the  same  promise  :  for  he  looked  for  the 
city  which  hath  the  foundations,  whose  Builder  and  Maker  is  God.  By 
faith  even  Sarah  herself  received  power  to  conceive  seed  when  she  was 
past  age,  since  she  counted  Him  faithful  Who  had  promised  :  wherefore 
also  there  sprang  of  one,  and  him  as  good  as  dead,  so  many  as  the  stars 
of  heaven  in  multitude,  and  as  the  sand,  which  is  by  the  sea-shore, 
innumerable.  These  all  died  in  faith,  not  having  received  the  promises, 
but  having  seen  them  and  greeted  them  from  afar,  and  having  confessed 
that  they  were  strangers  and  pilgrims  on  the  earth.  For  they  that  say 
such  things  make  it  manifest  that  they  are  seeking  after  a  country  of 
their  own.  And  if  indeed  they  had  been  mindful  of  that  country  from 
which  they  went  out,  they  would  have  had  opportunity  to  return.  But 
now  they  desire  a  better  country,  that  is,  a  heavenly  :  wherefore  God  is 
not  ashamed  of  them,  to  be  called  their  God  :  for  He  hath  prepared  for 
them  a  city.  By  faith  Abraham,  being  tried,  offered  up  Isaac  :  yea, 
he  that  had  gladly  received  the  promises  was  offering  up  his  only- 
begotten  son  ;  even  he  to  whom  it  was  said,  In  Isaac  shall  thy  seed 
be  called  :  accounting  that  God  is  able  to  raise  up,  even  from  the  dead  ; 
from  whence  he  did  also  in  a  parable  receive  him  back." — Heb.  xi. 
8— I9(R.V.). 


w 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  FAITH  OF  ABRAHAM, 

E   have   learned  that  faith  is  the   proof  of  the 
unseen.     We  must  not  exclude  even  from  this 


clause  the  other  thought  that  faith  is  an  assurance  of 
things  hoped  for.  It  is  not  stated,  but  it  is  implied. 
The  conception  of  a  personal  God  requires  only  to  be 
unfolded  in  order  to  yield  a  rich  harvest  of  hope.  The 
author  proceeds  to  show  that  by  faith  the  elders  had 
witness  borne  to  them  in  God's  confession  of  them 
and  great  rewards.  He  recounts  the  achievements 
of  a  long  line  of  believers,  who  as  they  went  handed 
the  light  from  one  to  another.  In  them  is  the  true 
unity  of  religion  and  revelation  from  the  beginning. 
For  the  poor  order  of  high-priests  the  writer  substitutes 
the  glorious  succession  of  faith. 

We  choose  for  the  subject  of  this  chapter  the  faith 
of  Abraham.  But  we  shall  not  dismiss  in  silence  the 
faith  of  Abel,  Enoch,  and  Noah.  The  paragraph  in 
which  Abraham's  deeds  are  recorded  will  most  naturally 
divide  itself  into  three  comparisons  between  their  faith 


214  "^HE  EPISTLE   TO    THE  HEBREWS. 


and  his.  We  venture  to  think  that  this  was  in  the 
writer's  mind  and  determined  the  form  of  the  passage. 
From  the  eighth  to  the  tenth  verse  the  Apostle  com- 
pares Abraham's  faith  with  that  of  Noah  ;  after  a  short 
episode  concerning  Sarah,  he  compares  Abraham's  faith 
with  Enoch's,  from  the  thirteenth  verse  to  the  six- 
teenth ;  then,  down  to  the  nineteenth  verse,  he 
compares  Abraham's  faith  with  that  of  Abel.  Noah's 
faith  appeared  in  an  act  of  obedience,  Enoch's  in  a 
life  of  fellowship  with  God,  Abel's  in  his  more 
excellent  sacrifice.  Abraham's  faith  manifested  itself 
in  all  these  ways.  When  he  was  called,  he  obeyed ; 
when  a  sojourner,  he  desired  a  better  country,  that  is, 
a  heavenly,  and  God  was  not  ashamed  to  be  called 
his  God  ;    being   tried,   he  offered  up  Isaac. 

Two  points  of  surpassing  worth  in  his  faith  suggest 
themselves.  The  one  is  largeness  and  variety  of 
experience ;  the  other  is  conquest  over  difficulties. 
These  are  the  constituents  of  a  great  saint.  Many 
a  good  man  will  not  become  a  strong  spiritual  cha- 
racter because  his  experience  of  life  is  too  narrow. 
Others,  whose  range  is  wide,  fail  to  reach  the  higher 
altitudes  of  saintliness  because  they  have  never  been 
called  to  pass  through  sore  trials,  or,  if  they  have  heard 
the  summons,  have  shrunk  from  the  hardships.  Before 
Abraham  faith  was  both  limited  in  its  experience  and 
untested    with    heaven-sent     difficulties.       Abraham's 


xi.  8-19.  THE  FAITH  OF  ABRAHAM.  215 

religion  was  complex.  His  faith  was  "  a  perfect  cube," 
and,  presenting  a  face  to  every  wind  that  blows,  came 
victorious  out  of  every  trial. 

Let  us  trace  the  comparisons. 

First ^  Noah  obeyed  a  Divine  command  when  he  built 
an  ark  to  the  saving  of  his  house.  He  obeyed  by 
faith.  His  eyes  saw  the  invisible,  and  the  vision 
kindled  his  hopes  of  being  saved  through  the  very 
waters  that  would  destroy  every  living  substance. 
But  this  was  all.  His  faith  acted  only  in  one  direc- 
tion :  he  hoped  to  be  saved.  The  Apostle  Peter  * 
compares  his  faith  to  the  initial  grace  of  those  who 
seek  baptism,  and  have  only  crossed  the  threshold 
of  the  spiritual  life.  It  is  true  that  he  overcame  one 
class  of  difficulties.  He  was  not  in  bondage  to  the 
things  of  sense.  He  made  provision  for  a  future 
belied  by  present  appearances.  But  the  influence  of 
the  senses  is  not  the  greatest  difficulty  of  the  human 
spirit.  As  the  lonely  ship  rode  on  the  heaving  waste 
of  waters,  all  within  was  gladness  and  peace.  No 
heaven-sent  temptations  tried  the  patriarch's  faith. 
He  overcame  the  trials  that  spring  out  of  the  earth ; 
but  he  knew  not  the  anguish  that  rends  the  spirit  like 
a  lightning-stroke  descending  from  God. 

With  Abraham  it  was  otherwise.      ''He  went  out, 

*  I  Peter  iii.  20. 


2i6  THE  EPISTLE   TO    THE  HEBREWS, 

not  knowing  whither  he  went."  *  He  leaves  his  father's 
house  and  his  father's  gods.  He  breaks  for  ever  with 
the  past,  even  before  the  future  has  been  revealed  to 
him.  The  thoughts  and  feehngs  that  had  grown  up 
with  him  from  childhood  are  once  for  all  put  away. 
He  has  no  sheltering  ark  to  receive  him.  A  homeless 
wanderer,  he  pitches  his  tent  to-day  at  the  well,  not 
knowing  where  his  invisible  guide  may  bid  him  stretch 
the  cords  on  the  morrow.  His  departure  from  Ur  of 
the  Chaldees  was  a  family  migration.  But  the  writer 
of  this  Epistle,  like  Philo,  describes  it  as  the  man's 
own  personal  obedience  to  a  Divine  call.  Submitting 
to  God's  will,  possessed  with  the  inspiration  and 
courage  of  faith,  obeying  daily  new  intimations,  he 
bends  his  steps  this  way  or  that,  not  knowing  whither 
he  goes.  True,  he  went  right  into  the  heart  of  the 
land  of  promise.  But,  even  in  his  own  heritage,  he 
became  a  sojourner,  as  in  a  land  not  his  own.f  God 
"  gave  him  none  inheritance  in  it,  no,  not  so  much  as 
to  set  his  foot  on."  J  Possessor  of  all  in  promise,  he 
purchased  a  sepulchre,  which  was  the  first  ground  he 
could  call  his  own.  The  cave  of  Machpelah  was  the 
small  beginning  of  the  fulfilment  of  God's  promise, 
which  the  spirit  of  Abraham  is  even  now  receiving  in 
a  higher  form.     It  is  still  the  same.     The  bright  dawn 

*  Chap.  xi.  8.  f  Chap.  xi.  9.  %  Acts  vii.  5. 


xi.  8-19.]  THE  FAITH  OF  ABRAHAM.  217 

of  heaven  ofterx  breaks  upon  the  soul  at  an  open  grave. 
But  he  journeyed  on,  and  trusted.  For  a  time  he  and 
Sarah  only ;  afterwards  Isaac  with  them ;  at  last, 
when  Sarah  had  been  laid  to  rest,  Abraham,  Isaac, 
Jacob,  the  three  together,  held  on  bravely,  sojourning 
with  aching  hearts,  but  ever  believing.  The  Apostle 
brings  in  the  names  of  Isaac  and  Jacob,  not  to  describe 
their  faith — this  he  will  do  subsequently, — but  to  show 
the  tenacity  and  patience  of  "the  friend  of  God." 

His  faith,  thus  sorely  tried  by  God's  long  delay, 
is  rewarded,  not  with  an  external  fulfilment  of  the 
promise,  but  with  larger  hopes,  wider  range  of  vision, 
greater  strength  to  endure,  more  vivid  realisation  of 
the  unseen.  "  He  looked  for  the  city  which  hath  the 
foundations,  whose  Architect  and  Maker  is  God."  *  In 
the  promise  not  a  word  is  said  about  a  city.  Apparently 
he  was  still  to  be  a  nomad  chief  of  a  large  and  wealthy 
tribe.  When  God  deferred  again  and  again  the  fulfil- 
ment of  His  promise  to  give  him  ''  this  land,"  His  trust- 
ing servant  bethought  him  what  the  delay  could  mean. 
This  was  his  hill  of  difficulty,  where  the  two  ways 
part.  The  worldly  wisdom  of  unbelief  would  argue 
from  God's  tardiness  that  the  reality,  when  it  comes, 
will  fall  far  short  of  the  promise.  Faith,  with  higher 
wisdom,   makes   sure   that   the  delay  has   a   purpose. 

•    *  Chap.  xi.  10. 


2i8  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS, 

God  intends  to  give  more  and  better  things  than  He 
promised,  and  is  making  room  in  the  believer's  heart 
for  the  greater  blessings.  Abraham  cast  about  to 
imagine  the  better  things.  He  invented  a  blessing, 
and;  so  to  speak,  inserted  it  for  himself  in  the  promise. 
This  new  blessing  has  an  earthly  and  a  heavenly 
meaning.  On  its  earthly  side  it  represents  the 
transition  from  a  nomadic  life  to  a  fixed  abode.  Faith  "^ 
bridged  the  gulf  that  separates  a  wandering  horde  from 
the  cultured  greatness  of  civilization.  The  future 
grandeur  of  Zion  was  already  held  in  the  grasp  of 
Abraham's  faith.  But  the  invented  blessing  had 
also  a  heavenly  side.  The  more  correct  rendering  of 
the  Apostle's  words  in  the  Revised  Version  expresses 
this  higher  thought  :  ''  He  looked  for  the  city  which 
hath  the  foundations  " — the  city  ;  for,  after  all,  there 
is  but  one  that  hath  the  eternal  foundations.  It  is 
the  holy  city,^*  the  heavenly  Jerusalem,  seen  by  the 
faith  of  Abraham  in  the  early  morning  of  revelation, 
seen  again  in  vision  by  the  Apostle  John  at  its  close. 
The  expression  cannot  mean  anything  that  comes  short 
of  the  Apostle's  description  of  faith  as  the  assurance 
of  things  hoped  for  in  the  unseen  world.  Abraham 
realised  heaven  as  an  eternal  city,  in  which  after  death 
he    would   be   gathered   to   his   fathers.      A   sublime 

*  Rev.  xxi.  lo. 


xi.  8-19.]  THE  FAITH  OF  ABRAHAM,  219 

conception ! — eternity  not  the  dwelling-place  of  the 
solitary  spirit,  the  joy  of  heaven  consisting  in  personal 
fellowship  for  ever  with  the  good  of  every  age  and 
clime.  There  the  past  streams  into  the  present,  not, 
as  here,  the  present  into  the  past.  All  are  contem- 
poraries there,  and  death  is  no  more.  Whatever  makes 
civilization  powerful  or  beautiful  on  earth — laws,  arts, 
culture — all  is  there  etherealised  and  endowed  with 
immortahty.  Such  a  city  has  God  only  for  its 
Architect,*  God  only  for  its  Builder.!  He  Who  con- 
ceived the  plan  can  alone  execute  the  design  and 
realise  the  idea. 

Of  this  sort  was  Abraham's  obedience.  He  con- 
tinued to  endure  in  the  face  of  God's  delay  to  fulfil  the 
promise.  His  reward  consisted,  not  in  an  earthly 
inheritance,  not  in  mere  salvation,  but  in  larger  hopes 
and  in  the  power  of  a  spiritual  imagination. 

Second^  Abraham's  faith  is  compared  with  Enoch's, 
whose  story  is  most  sweetly  simple.  He  is  the  man 
who  has  never  doubted,  across  whose  placid  face  no  ' 
dark  shadow  of  unbelief  ever  sweeps.  A  virgin  soul, 
he  walks  with  God  in  a  time  when  the  wickedness  of 
man  is  great  in  the  earth  and  the  imagination  of  the 
thoughts  of  his  heart  is  only  evil  continually,  as  Adam 
walked  with  God  in  the  cool  of  the  evening  before  sin 

*  rexJ'i-TrjS,  t  ^f^iovpyds. 


220  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS, 

had  brought  the  hot  fever  of  shame  to  his  cheek.  He 
walks  with  God,  as  a  child  with  his  father ;  "  and  God 
takes  him  "  into  His  arms.  Enoch's  removal  was  not 
like  the  entrance  of  Elijah  into  heaven  :  a  victorious 
conqueror  returning  into  the  city  in  his  triumphal  car. 
It  was  the  quiet  passing  away,  without  observation,  of 
a  spirit  of  heaven  that  had  sojourned  for  a  time  on 
earth.  Men  sought  him,  because  they  felt  the  loss  of 
his  presence  among  them.  But  they  knew  that  God 
had  taken  him.  They  inferred  his  story  from  his 
character.  In  Enoch  we  have  an  instance  of  faith  as 
the  faculty  of  realising  the  unseen,  but  not  as  a  power 
to  conquer  difficulties. 

Compare  this  faith  with  Abraham's.  "  These," — 
Abraham,  Isaac,  Jacob, — ^'all  died  in  faith,"  or,  as  we 
may  render  the  word,  "  according  to  faith," — according 
to  the  faith  which  they  had  exhibited  in  their  life. 
Their  death  was  after  the  same  pattern  of  faith. 
Enoch's  contemplative  life  came  to  a  fitting  end  in  a 
deathless  translation  to  higher  fellowship  with  God. 
His  way  of  leaving  Hfe  became  him.  Abraham's 
repeated  conflicts  and  victories  closed  with  quite  as 
much  becomingness  in  a  last  trial  of  his  faith,  when  he 
was  called  to  die  without  having  received  the  fulfilment 
of  the  promises.  But  he  had  already  seen  the  heavenly 
city  and  greeted  it  from  afar.*     He  saw  the  promises, 

*   dcTracra^eiot  (xi.  1 3) 


xi.  8-19.]  THE  FAITH  OF  ABRAHAM.  221 

as  the  traveller  beholds  the  gleaming  mirage  of  the 
desert.  The  illusiveness  of  Hfe  is  the  theme  of  moralists 
when  they  preach  resignation.  It  is  faith  only  that 
can  transform  the  illusions  themselves  into  an  incentive 
to  high  and  holy  aspirations.  All  profound  religion  is 
full  of  seeming  illusions.  Christ  beckons  us  onward.  / 
When  we  climb  this  steep,  His  voice  is  heard  calling 
to  us  from  a  higher  peak.  That  height  gained  reveals 
a  soaring  mass  piercing  the  clouds,  and  the  voice  is 
heard  above  still  summoning  us  to  fresh  effort.  The 
cHmber  falls  exhausted  on  the  mountain-side  and  lays 
him  down  to  die.  Ever  as  Abraham  attempted  to  seize 
the  promise,  it  eluded  his  grasp.  The  Tantalus  of 
heathen  mythology  was  in  Tartarus,  but  the  Tantalus 
of  the  Bible  is  the  man  of  faith,  who  believes  the  more 
for  every  failure  to  attain. 

Such  men  "  declare  plainly  that  they  seek  a  country 
of  their  own."*  Let  not  the  full  force  of  the  words 
escape  us.  The  Apostle  does  not  mean  that  they  seek 
to  emigrate  to  a  new  country.  He  has  just  said  that 
they  confess  themselves  to  be  "  strangers  and  pilgrims 
on  the  earth."  They  are  "  pilgrims/'  because  they  are 
journeying  through  on  their  way  to  another  country ; 
they  are  ''strangers,"  because  they  have  come  hither 
from  another  land.f     His  meaning  is  that  they  long  to 

*   Chap.   xi.    14.  f   ^f'l'oi  Kai  7rop?7r»or;,uoi. 


222  THE  EPISTLE    TO  THE  HEBREWS. 

return  home.  That  he  means  this  is  evident  from  his 
thinking  it  necessary  to  guard  himself  against  the 
possibiHty  of  being  understood  to  refer  to  Ur  of  the 
Chaldees.  They  were  not  mindful  of  the  earthly  home, 
the  cradle  of  their  race,  which  they  had  left  for  ever. 
Not  once  did  they  cast  a  wistful  look  back,  like  Lot's 
wife  and  the  Israehtes  in  the  wilderness.  Yet  they 
yearned  for  their  fatherland.*  Plato  imagined  that  all 
our  knowledge  is  a  reminiscence  of  what  we  learned 
in  a  previous  state  of  existence  ;  and  Wordsworth's 
exquisite  lines,  which  cannot  lose  their  sweet  fragrance 
however  often  they  are  repeated,  are  a  reflection  of  the 
same  visionary  gleam, — 

"  Our  birth  is  but  a  sleep  and  a  forgetting : 
The  soul  that  rises  with  us,  our  hfe's  star, 
Hath  had  elsewhere  its  setting, 

And  Cometh  from  afar  ; 
Not  in  entire  forgetfulness, 
And  not  in  utter  nakedness, 
But  trailing  clouds  of  glory,  do  we  come 
From  God,  Who  is  our  home.** 

Our  author  too  suggests  it ;  and  it  is  true.  We 
need  not  maintain  it  as  an  external  fact  in  the  history 
of  the  soul,  according  to  the  old  doctrine,  resuscitated 
in  our  own  times,  of  Traducianism.  The  Apostle 
represents  it  rather  as  a  feeling.  There  is  a  Christian 
consciousness  of  heaven,  as  if  the  soul  had  been  there 

*  TrarpiSa. 


xi.  8-19  ]  THE  FAITH   OF  ABRAHAM.  223 

and  longed  to  return.  And  if  it  is  a  glorious  attain- 
ment of  faith  to  regard  heaven  as  a  city,  more  consol- 
ing still  is  the  hope  of  returning  there,  storm-tossed 
and  weather-beaten,  as  to  a  home,  to  look  up  to  God 
as  to  a  Father,  and  to  love  all  angels  and  saints  as 
brethren  in  the  household  of  God,  over  which  Christ  is 
set  as  a  Son.  Such  a  hope  renders  feeble,  sinful  men 
not  altogether  unworthy  of  God's  Fatherhood.  For  He 
is  not  ashamed  to  be  called  their  God,  and  Jesus  Christ 
is  not  ashamed  to  call  them  brethren.*  The  proof  is, 
that  God  has  prepared  for  them  a  settled  abode  in 
the  eternal  city. 

Thirds  the  faith  of  Abraham  is  compared  with  the 
faith  of  Abel.  In  the  case  of  Abel  faith  is  more  than 
a  realisation  of  the  unseen.  For  Cain  also  believed  in 
the  existence  of  an  invisible  Power,  and  offered  sacri- 
fice. We  are  expressly  told  in  the  narrative  f  that 
"  Cain  brought  of  the  fruit  of  the  ground  an  offering  unto 
the  Lord."  Yet  he  was  a  wicked  man.  The  Apostle 
John  says  %  that  ^'  Cain  was  of  the  Evil  One."  He  had 
the  faith  which  St.  James  ascribes  to  the  demons,  who 
I  **  believe  there  is  one  God,  and  shudder."§  He  was 
possessed  with  the  same  hatred,  and  had  also  the  same 
faith.  It  was  the  union  of  the  two  things  in  his  spirit 
that   made   him    the   murderer   of   his    brother.     Our 

*  Chaps,  xi.   16;  ii.  11.  %  \  John  iii.  12. 

t  Gen.  iv.  3.  §  Tames  ii.  19. 


224  THE  EPISTLE  TO   THE  HEBREWS. 

author  points  out  very  clearly  the  difference  between 
Cain  and  Abel.  Both  sacrificed,  but  Abel  desired 
righteousness.  He  had  a  conscience  of  sin,  and  sought 
reconcihation  with  God  through  his  offering.  Indeed, 
some  of  the  most  ancient  authorities,  for  ''  God  bearing 
witness  in  respect  to  his  gifts,"  read  "  he  bearing 
witness  to  God  on  the  ground  of  his  gifts ; "  that  is, 
Abel  bore  witness  by  his  sacrifice  to  God's  righteous- 
ness and  mercy.  He  was  the  first  martyr,  therefore, 
in  two  senses.  He  was  God's  witness,  and  he  was 
slain  for  his  righteousness.  But,  whether  we  accept 
this  reading  or  the  other,  the  Apostle  presents  Abel 
before  us  as  the  man  who  realised  the  great  moral  con- 
ception of  righteousness.  He  sought,  not  the  favours 
of  an  arbitrary  Sovereign,  not  the  mere  mercy  of  an 
omnipotent  Ruler,  but  the  peace  of  the  righteous  God. 
It  was  through  Abel  that  faith  in  God  thus  became  the 
foundation  of  true  ethics.  He  acknowledged  the  im- 
mutable difference  between  right  and  wrong,  which  is 
the  moral  theory  accepted  by  the  greater  saints  of  the 
Old  Testament,  and  in  the  New  Testament  forms  the 
groundwork  of  St.  Paul's  forensic  doctrine  of  the  Atone- 
ment. Moreover,  because  Abel  witnessed  for  right- 
eousness by  his  sacrifice,  his  blood  even  cried  from  the 
ground  unto  God  for  righteous  vengeance.  For  this 
is  unquestionably  the  meaning  of  the  words  "  and 
through  his   faith  he  being  dead   yet  speaketh ; "  and 


xi.  8- 19.]  THE  FAITH  OF  ABRAHAM.  225 

in  the  next  chapter  *  the  Apostle  speaks  of  "  the  blood 
of  sprinkling,  that  speaketh  a  better  thing  than  that 
of  Abel."  It  was  the  blood  of  one  whose  faith  had 
grasped  firmly  the  truth  of  God's  righteousness.  His 
blood,  therefore,  cried  to  the  righteous  God  to  avenge 
his  wrong.  The  Apostle  speaks  as  if  he  were  per- 
sonifying the  blood  and  ascribing  to  the  slain  man  the 
faith  which  he  had  manifested  before.  The  action  of 
Abel's  faith  in  life  and,  as  we  in  ay  safely  assume,  in 
the  very  article  of  death,  retained  its  power  with  God. 
Every  mouthing  wound  had  a  tongue.  In  like  manner, 
says  the  writer  of  the  Epistle,  the  obedience  of  Jesus 
up  to  and  in  His  death  made  His  blood  efficacious  for 
pardon  to  the  end  of  time. 

But  Abraham's  faith  excelled.  Abel  was  prompted 
to  offer  sacrifice  by  natural  religiousness  and  an 
awakened  conscience ;  Abraham  sternly  resolved  to 
obey  a  command  of  God.  He  prepared  to  do  that 
against  which  nature  revolted,  yea  that  which  con- 
science forbade.  Had  not  the  story  of  Abel's  faith 
itself  loudly  proclaimed  the  sacredness  of  human  Hfe  ? 
Would  not  Abraham,  if  he  offered  up  Isaac,  become 
another  Cain  ?  Would  not  the  dead  child  speak,  and 
his  blood  cry  from  the  ground  to  God  for  vengeance  ? 
It  was  the  case  of  a  man  to  whom  "  God  is  greater 

♦  Chap.  xii.  24. 

15 


226  THE  EPISTLE   TO    THE  HEBREWS, 


than  conscience."  He  resolved  to  obey  at  all  hazards. 
Hereby  he  assured  his  heart — that  is,  his  conscience— 
before  God  in  that  matter  wherein  his  heart  may  have 
condemned  him.*  We,  it  is  true,  in  the  hght  of  a 
better  revelation  of  God's  character,  should  at  once 
deny,  without  more  ado,  that  such  a  command  had 
ueen  given  by  God  ;  and  we  need  not  fear  thankfully 
and  vehemently  to  declare  that  our  absolute  trust  in 
the  Tightness  of  our  own  moral  instincts  is  a  higher 
faith  than  Abraham's.  But  he  had  no  misgiving  as 
to  the  reality  of  the  revelation  or  the  authority  of  the 
command.  Neither  do  the  sacred  historian  and  the 
writer  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  question  it.  We 
also  need  not  doubt.  God  met  His  servant  at  that 
stage  of  spiritual  perception  which  he  had  already 
attained.  His  faith  was  strong  in  its  realisation  of 
God's  authority  and  faithfulness.  But  his  moral  nature 
was  not  sufficiently  educated  to  decide  by  the  character 
of  a  command  whether  it  was  worthy  of  God  or  not. 
He  calmly  left  it  to  Him  to  vindicate  His  own  righteous- 
ness. Those  who  deny  that  God  imposed  such  a 
hard  task  on  Abraham  must  be  prepared  to  solve  still 
greater  difficulties.  For  do  not  we  also,  in  reference  to 
j-.ome  things,  still  require  Abraham's  faith  that  the 
Judge  of  all  the  earth  will  do  right  ?     What  shall  we 

*   I  John  iii.  19,  20, 


xi.  8-19.]  THE  FAITH  OF  ABRAHAM,  227 

say  of  His  permitting  the  terrible  and  universal  suf- 
ferings of  all  living  things  ?  What  are  we  to  think  of 
the  still  more  awful  mystery  of  moral  evil  ?  Shall  we 
say  He  could  not  have  prevented  it  ?  Or  shall  we 
take  refuge  in  the  distinction  between  permission  and 
command  ?  Of  the  two  it  were  easier  to  understand 
His  commanding  what  He  will  not  permit,  as  in  the 
sacrifice  of  Isaac,  than  to  explain  His  permission  of 
what  He  cannot  and  will  not  command,  as  in  the  un- 
doubted existence  of  sin. 

But  let  us  once  more  repeat  that  the  greatest  faith  of 
all  is  to  believe,  with  Abel,  that  God  is  righteous,  and 
yet  to  beHeve,  with  Abraham,  that  God  can  justify  His 
own  seeming  unrighteousness,  and  also  to  believe,  with 
the  saints  of  Christianity,  that  the  test  which  God  im- 
posed on  Abraham  w^U  nevermore  be  tried,  because 
the  enlightened  conscience  of  humanity  forbids  it  and 
invites  other  and  more  subtle  tests  in  its  place. 

We  must  not  suppose  that  Abraham  found  the  com- 
mand an  easy  one.  From  the  narrative  in  the  Book 
of  Genesis  we  should  infer  that  he  expected  God  to 
provide  a  substitute  for  Isaac  :  "  And  Abraham  said, 
My  son,  God  will  provide  Himself  a  lamb  for  a  burnt 
offering;  so  they  went  both  of  them  together."*  But 
the  Apostle  gives  us  plainly  to  understand  that  Abraham 

*  Gen.  xxii.  8. 


228  THE  EPISTLE    TO   THE   HEBREWS. 

offered  his  son  because  he  accounted  that  God  was  able 
to  raise  him  from  the  dead.  Both  answers  are  true. 
They  reveal  to  us  the  anxious  tossings  of  his  spirit, 
seeking  to  account  to  itself  for  the  terrible  command  of 
Heaven.  At  one  moment  he  thinks  God  will  not  carry 
matters  to  the  bitter  end.  His  mind  is  pacified  with  the 
thought  that  a  substitute  for  Isaac"  will  be  provided. 
At  another  moment  this  appeared  to  detract  from  the 
awful  severity  of  the  trial,  and  Abraham's  faith  waxed 
strong  to  obey,  even  though  no  substitute  would  be 
found  in  the  thicket.  Another  solution  would  then  offer 
itself  God  would  immediately  bring  Isaac  back  to  life. 
For  Isaac  would  not  cease  to  be,  nor  cease  to  be  Isaac, 
when  the  sacrificial  knife  had  descended.  "  God  is  not 
God  of  the  dead,  but  of  the  living,  for  all  live  unto 
Him."  *  Besides,  the  promise  had  not  been  with- 
drawn, though  it  had  not  yet  been  confirmed  by  an 
oath ;  and  the  promise  involved  that  the  seed  would  be 
called  in  Isaac,  not  in  another  son.  Both  solutions  w^ere 
right.  For  a  ram  was  caught  in  a  thicket  by  the  horns, 
and  Abraham  did  receive  his  son  back  from  the  dead, 
not  literally  indeed,  but  in  a  parable. 

Most  expositors  explain  the  words  "in  a  parable" 
as  if  they  meant  nothing  more  than  "as  it  were,"  "so 
to  speak ; "  and  some  have  actually  supposed  them  to 

*  Luke  XX.  38. 


xi.  8-19.]  THE  FAITH  OF  ABRAHAM.  229 

refer  to  the  birth  of  Isaac  in  his  father's  old  age,  when 
Abraham  was  "  as  good  as  dead."  *  Both  interpreta- 
tions do  violence  to  the  Greek  expression,!  which  must 
mean  "even  in  a  parable."  It  is  a  brief  and  pregnant 
allusion  to  the  ultimate  purpose  of  Abraham's  trial. 
God  intended  more  by  it  than  to  test  faith.  The  test 
was  meant  to  prepare  Abraham  for  receiving  a  revela- 
tion. On  Moriah,  and  ever  after,  Isaac  was  more  than 
Isaac  to  Abraham.  He  offered  him  to  God  as  Isaac, 
the  son  of  the  promise.  He  received  him  back  from 
God's  hand  as  a  type  of  Him  in  Whom  the  promise 
would  be  fulfilled.  Abraham  had  gladly  received  the 
promise.     He  now  saw  the  day  of  Christ,  and  rejoiced.^ 

*  Chap.  xi.  12.  t  KoX  kv  irapa^oXy.  J  John  viii.  56. 


THE  FAITH  OF  MOSES, 


"  By  faith  Moses,  when  he  was  born,  was  hid  three  months  by  his 
parents,  because  they  saw  he  was  a  goodly  child  ;  and  they  were  not 
afraid  of  the  king's  commandment.  By  faith  Moses,  when  he  was 
grown  up,  refused  to  be  called  the  son  of  Pharaoh's  daughter ;  choosing 
rather  to  be  evil  entreated  with  the  people  of  God,  than  to  enjoy  the 
pleasures  of  sin  for  a  season  ;  accounting  the  reproach  of  Christ  greater 
riches  than  the  treasures  of  Egypt :  for  he  looked  unto  the  recompense 
of  reward.  By  faith  he  forsook  Egypt,  not  fearing  the  wrath  of  the 
king  :  for  he  endured,  as  seeing  Him  Who  is  invisible.  By  faith  he 
kept  the  passover,  and  the  sprinkling  of  the  blood,  that  the  destroyer 
of  the  first-born  should  not  touch  them."— Heb.  xi.  23—28  (R.V.). 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  FAITH  OF  MOSES. 

/^^NE  difference  between  the  Old  Testament  and 
^-^  the  New  is  the  comparative  silence  of  the  former 
respecting  Moses  and  the  frequent  mention  of  him  in 
the  latter.  When  he  has  brought  the  children  of  Israel 
through  the  wilderness  to  the  borders  of  the  promised 
land,  their  great  leader  is  seldom  mentioned  by 
historian,  psalmist,  or  prophet.  We  might  be  tempted 
to  imagine  that  the  national  life  of  Israel  had  outgrown 
his  influence.  It  would  without  question  be  in  a 
measure  true.  We  may  state  the  same  thing  on  its 
religious  side  by  saying  that  God  hid  the  memory  as 
well  as  the  body  of  his  servant,  in  the  spirit  of  John 
Wesley's  words,  happily  chosen  for  his  and  his 
brother's  epitaph  in  Westminster  Abbey,  *'  God  buries 
His  workmen  and  carries  on  His  work."  But  in  the 
New  Testament  it  is  quite  otherwise.  No  man  is  so 
frequently  mentioned.  Sometimes  when  he  is  not 
named  it  is  easy  to  see  that  the  sacred  writers  have 
him  in  their  minds. 


234  THE  EFISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS, 

One  reason  for  this  remarkable  difference  between 
the  two  Testaments  in  reference  to  Moses  is  to  be 
sought  in  the  contrast  between  the  earlier  and  later 
Judaism.  During  the  ages  of  the  old  covenant 
Judaism  was  a  Hving  moral  force.  It  gave  birth  to  a 
peculiar  type  of  heroes  and  saints.  Speaking  of 
Judaism  in  the  widest  possible  meaning,  David  and 
Isaiah,  as  well  as  Samuel  and  Elijah,  are  its  children. 
These  men  were  such  heroes  of  religion  that  the  saints 
of  the  Christian  Church  have  not  dwarfed  their  great- 
ness. But  it  is  one  of  the  traits  of  a  living  religion  to 
forget  the  past,  or  rather  to  use  it  only  as  a  stepping- 
stone  to  better  things.  It  forgets  the  past  in  the  sense 
in  which  St.  Paul  urges  the  Philippians  to  count  what 
things  were  gain  a  loss,  and  to  press  on,  forgetting 
the  things  which  are  behind,  and  stretching  forward  to 
the  things  which  are  before.  Religion  lives  in  its 
conscious,  exultant  power  to  create  spiritual  heroes, 
not  in  looking  back  to  admire  its  own  handiwork.  The 
only  religion  among  men  that  lives  in  its  founder  is 
Christianity.  Forget  Christ,  and  Christianity  ceases  to 
be.  But  the  life  of  Mosaism  was  not  bound  up  with  the 
memory  of  Moses.  Otherwise  we  may  well  suppose 
that  idolatry  would  have  crept  in,  even  before  Hezekiah 
found  it  necessary  to  destroy  the  brazen  serpent. 

When   we   come   down  to   the   times   of  John  the 
Baptist  and  our  Lord,  Mosaism  is  to  all  practical  ends 


xi.  23-28.]  THE  FAITH  OF  MOSES.  235 

a   dead    religion.     The  great    movers  of  men's   souls 
came  down  upon  the  age,  and  were  not  developed  out 
of  it.      The   product   of    Judaism    at   this   time   was 
Pharisaism,    which    had    quite    as    little    true    faith    as 
Sadduceeism.     But  when  a  religion  has  lost  its  power 
to  create  saints,  men  turn  their  faces  to  the  great  ones 
of  olden  times.     They  raise  the  fallen  tombstones  of 
the   prophets,    and    religion   is    identical    with   hero- 
worship.     An  instance  of  this  very  thing  may  be  seen 
in    England    to-day,    where  Atheists   have    discovered 
how  to  be  devout,  and  Agnostics  go  on  a  pilgrimage  ! 
"  We  are  the  disciples  of  Moses,"  cried  the  Pharisees. 
Can  any  one  conceive  of  David  or  Samuel  calling  him- 
self a  disciple  of  Moses  ?     The  notion  of  discipleship 
to  Moses  does  not  occur  in  the  Old  Testament.     Men 
never  thought  of  such  a  relation.     But  it  is  the  dominant 
idea  of  Judaism  in  the  time  of  Christ.     Hence  it  was 
brought  about  that  he  who  was  the  servant  and  friend 
appears   in    the    New   Testament   as   the   antagonist, 
^'  For  the  Law  was  given  by  Moses  ;  grace  and  truth 
came    by   Jesus   Christ."*      This    is   opposition   and 
rivalry.     Yet  ''  this  is  that  Moses  which  said  unto  the 
children  of  Israel,  A  Prophet  shall  God  raise  up  unt3 
you  from  among  your  brethren,  like  unto  me."  f 

The  notable  difference  between  the  Moses  of  New 

*  Johni.  17.  t  Acts  vii.  37. 


236  THE  EPISTLE    TO    THE  HEBREWS. 

Testament  times  and  the  Moses  delineated  in  the 
ancient  narrative  renders  it  especially  interesting  to 
study  a  passage  in  which  the  writer  of  the  Epistle  to 
the  Hebrews  takes  us  back  to  the  living  man,  and 
describes  the  attitude  of  Moses  himself  towards  Jesus 
Christ.  Stephen  told  his  persecutors  that  the  founder 
of  the  Aaronic  priesthood  had  spoken  of  a  great  Prophet 
to  come,  and  Christ  said  that  Moses  wrote  of  Him.* 
But  it  is  with  joyous  surprise  we  read  in  the  Epistle  to 
the  Hebrews  that  the  legislator  was  a  believer  in  the 
same  sense  in  which  Abraham  was  a  believer.  The 
founder  of  the  old  covenant  himself  walked  by  faith  in 
the  new  covenant. 

The  references  to  Moses  made  by  our  Lord  and  by 
Stephen  sufficiently  describe  his  mission.  The  special 
work  of  Moses  in  the  history  of  religion  was  to  prepare 
the  way  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  make  His  paths 
straight.  He  was  commissioned  to  familiarise  men  with 
the  wondrous,  stupendous  idea  of  the  appearing  of  God 
in  human  nature, — a  conception  almost  too  vast  to 
grasp,  too  difficult  to  believe.  To  render  it  not  im- 
possible for  men  to  accept  the  truth,  he  was  instructed 
to  create  a  historical  type  of  the  Incarnation.  He 
called  into  being  a  spiritual  people.  He  realised  the 
magnificent  idea  of  a  Divine  nation.  If  we  may  use  the 
term,  he  showed  to  the  world  God  appearing  in  the  life 
*  John  V.  46. 


xi.  23-28.]  THE  FAITH  OF  MOSES.  237 

of  a  nation,  in  order  to  teach  them  the  higher  truth 
that  the  Word  would  at  the  remote  end  of  the  ages 
appear  in  the  flesh.  The  nation  was  the  Church ;  the 
Church  was  the  State.  The  King  would  be  God.  The 
court  of  the  King  would  be  the  temple.  The  ministers 
of  the  court  would  be  the  priests.  The  law  of  the  State 
would  have  equal  authority  with  the  moral  require- 
ments of  God's  nature.  For  Moses  apparently  knew 
nothing  of  the  distinction  made  by  theologians  between 
the  civil,  the  ceremonial,  and  the  moral  law. 

But  in  the  passage  before  us  we  have  something 
quite  different  from  this.  The  Apostle  says  nothing 
about  the  creation  of  the  covenant  people  out  of  the^,. 
abject  slaves  of  the  brick-kilns.  He  is  silent  concern- 
ing the  giving  of  the  Law  amid  the  fire  and  tempest  of 
Sinai.  It  is  plain  that  he  wishes  to  tell  us  about  the 
man's  inner  life.  He  represents  Moses  as  a  man  of 
faith. 

Even  of  his  faith  the  apparently  greatest  achieve- 
ments are  passed  over.  Nothing  is  said  of  his  appear- 
ances before  Pharaoh ;  nothing  of  the  wonderful  faith 
that  enabled  him  to  pray  with  uplifted  hands  on  the 
brow  of  the  hill  whilst  the  people  were  fighting  God's 
battle  in  the  valley  ;  nothing  of  the  faith  with  which,  on 
the  top  of  Pisgah,  Moses  died  without  receiving  the 
promise.  Evidently  it  is  not  the  Apostle's  purpose  to 
write  the  panegyric  of  a  hero. 


238  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS. 


Closer  examination  of  the  verses  brings  out  the 
thought  that  the  Apostle  is  tracing  the  growth  and 
formation  of  the  man's  spiritual  character.  He  means 
to  show  that  faith  has  in  it  the  making  of  a  man  of 
God.  Moses  became  the  leader  of  the  Lord's  redeemed 
people,  the  founder  of  the  national  covenant,  the  legis- 
lator and  prophet,  because  he  believed  in  God,  in  the 
future  of  Israel,  and  in  the  coming  of  the  Christ.  The 
subject  of  the  passage  is  faith  as  the  power  that  creates 
a  great  spiritual  leader.  But  what  is  true  of  leaders  is 
true  also  of  every  strong  spiritual  nature.  No  lesson 
can  be  more  timely  in  our  days.  Not  learning,  not 
culture,  not  even  genius,  makes  a  strong  doer,  but 
faith. 

The  contents  of  the  verses  may  be  classified  under 
four  remarks : — 

1.  Faith  gropes  at  first  in  the  dark  for  the  work  of 
life. 

2.  Faith  chooses  the  work  of  life. 

3.  Faith  is  a  discioline  of  the  man  for  the  work  of 
life. 

4.  Faith  renders  the  man's  life  and  work  sacramental. 
I.  The  initial  stage  in  forming  the  servant  of  God  is 

always  the  same, — a  vague,  restless,  eager  groping  in  the 
dark,  a  putting  forth  feelers  for  the  light  of  revelation, 
'i  his  is  often  a  time  of  childish  mistakes  and  follies,  of 
which  he  is  afterwards  keenly  ashamed,  and  at  which 


xi.  23-28.]  THE  FAITH  OF  MOSES.  239 

he  can  sometimes  afford  to  smile.  It  often  happens,  if 
the  man  of  God  is  to  spring  from  a  religious  family, 
that  his  parents  undergo,  in  a  measure,  this  first  discip- 
line for  him.  So  it  was  in  the  case  of  Moses.  The 
child  was  hid  three  months  of  his  parents.  Why  did 
they  hide  him  ?  Was  it  because  they  feared  the  king  ? 
It  was  because  they  did  not  fear  the  king.  They  hid 
their  child  by  faith.  But  what  had  faith  to  do  with  the 
hiding  of  him  ?  Had  they  received  an  announcement 
from  an  inspired  seer  that  their  child  would  deliver 
Israel,  or  that  he  would  stand  with  God  on  the  top  of 
Sinai  and  receive  the  Law  for  the  people,  or  that  he 
would  lead  the  redeemed  of  the  Lord  to  the  borders  of 
a  rich  land  and  large  ?  None  of  these  sufficient  grounds 
for  defying  the  king's  authority  are  mentioned.  The 
reason  given  in  the  narrative  and  as  well  by  Stephen  * 
and  the  writer  of  this  Epistle  sounds  quaint,  if  not 
childish.  They  hid  him  because  he  was  comely.  Yet 
they  hid  him  by  faith.  The  beauty  of  a  sleeping  babe 
was  to  them  a  revelation,  as  truly  a  revelation  as  if 
they  had  heard  the  voice  of  the  angel  that  spoke 
to  Manoah  or  to  Zacharias.  The  Scripture  narrative 
contains  no  hint  that  the  child's  beauty  was  miraculous, 
and,  what  is  more  to  the  purpose,  we  are  not  told  that 
God  had  given  it  as  the  token  of  His  covenant.  It  is  an 
instance  of  faith  making  a  sacrament  of  its  own,  and 
*  Exod.  ii.  2  ]  Acts  vii.  2Q. 


240  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS, 

seeking  in  what  is  natural  its  warrant  for  believing  in 
the  supernatural.  Nothing  is  easier,  and  perhaps 
nothing  would  be  more  rational,  than  to  dismiss  the 
entire  story  with  a  contemptuous  smile. 

The  writer  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  must  admit 
that  Jochebed's  faith  was  unauthorised.  But  does  not 
faith  always  begin  in  folly  ?  Is  it  not  at  first  a  blind 
instinct,  fastening  on  what  is  nearest  to  hand  ?  Has 
not  our  belief  in  God  sprung  out  of  trust  in  human 
goodness  or  in  nature's  loveliness  ?  To  many  a  father 
has  not  the  birth  of  his  first-born  been  a  revelation  of 
Heaven  ?  Is  not  such  faith  as  Jochebed's  the  true  explan- 
ation of  the  instinctive  rise  and  wonderful  vitality  of 
infant  baptism  in  the  Christian  Church  ?  If  Abraham's 
faith  dared  to  look  for  the  city  which  hath  the  founda- 
tions when  God  had  promised  only  the  wealth  of  a  tented 
nomad,  was  not  the  mother  of  Moses  justified,  since 
God  had  given  her  faith,  in  letting  the  heaven-born 
instinct  entwine  with  her  earth-born  love  of  her  off- 
spring ?  It  grew  with  its  growth,  and  rejoiced  with 
its  joy ;  but  it  also  endured  and  triumphed  in  its  sore 
distress,  and  justified  its  presence  by  saving  the  child. 
Faith  is  God's  gift,  no  less  than  the  testimony  which 
faith  accepts.  Sometimes  the  faith  is  implanted  when 
no  fitting  revelation  is  vouchsafed.  But  faith  will  liva 
on  in  the  darkness,  until  the  day  dawn  and  the  day-star 
arise  in  the  heart. 


xi.  23-28.]  THE  FAITH  OF  MOSES,  241 

A  wise  teacher  has  warned  us  against  phantom 
notions  and  bidden  us  interpret  rather  than  anticipate 
nature.  But  another  great  thinker  demonstrated  that 
the  clearest  vision  begins  in  mere  groping.  Anticipa- 
tions of  God  precede  the  interpretation  of  His  message. 
The  immense  space  between  instinct  and  genius  is  in 
rehgion  traversed  by  faith,  which  starts  with  mera 
palpatio f  but  at  last  attains  to  the  beatific  vision  of  God. 

2.  Faith  chooses  the  work  of  life.  The  Apostle  has 
spoken  of  the  faith  that  induced  the  parents  of  Moses 
to  hide  their  child  three  months.  Some  theologians 
have  set  much  value  on  what  they  term  "  an  implicit 
faith."  The  faith  of  Moses  himself  would  be  said  by 
them  to  be  "  enwrapped "  in  that  of  his  parents. 
Whatever  we  may  think  of  this  doctrine;  there  can 
be  no  question  that  the  New  Testament  recognises 
the  idea  of  representation.  The  Church  has  always 
upheld  the  unity,  the  solidarity,  of  the  family.  It 
sprang  itself  out  of  the  family.  Perhaps  its  consumma- 
tion on  earth  will  be  a  return  into  the  family  relation. 
It  retains  the  likeness  throughout  its  long  history.  It 
acknowledges  that  a  believing  husband  sanctifies  the 
unbelieving  wife,  and  a  believing  wife  sanctifies  the 
unbelieving  husband.  In  like  manner,  a  believing 
parent  sanctifies  the  children,  and  no  one  but  them- 
selves can  deprive  them  of  their  privileges.  But 
they   can   do   it.     The   time   comes  when    they   must 

16 


242  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS. 


choose  for  themselves.  Hitherto  led  gently  on  by 
loving  hands,  they  must  now  think  and  act  for  them- 
selves, or  be  content  to  lose  the  power  of  indepen- 
dent action,  and  remain  always  children.  The  risk  is 
sometimes  great.  But  it  cannot  be  evaded.  It  often- 
times happens  that  the  irrevocable  step  is  taken  un-  « 
observed  by  others,  almost  unconsciously  to  the  man 
himself.  The  decision  has  been  taken  in  silence ;  the 
even  tenor  of  life  is  not  disturbed.  The  world  little 
weens  that  a  soul  has  determined  its  own  eternity  in 
one  strong  resolve. 

But  in  the  case  of  a  man  destined  to  be  a  leader  of 
his  fellows,  whether  in  thought  or  in  action,  a  crisis 
occurs.  We  use  the  word  in  its  correct  meaning  of 
judgment.  It  is  more  than  a  transition,  more  than  a 
conversion.  He  judges,  and  is  conscious  that  as 
he  judges  he  will  be  judged.  If  God  has  any  great 
work  for  the  man  to  do,  the  command  comes  sooner 
or  later,  as  if  it  descended  audibly  from  heaven, 
that  he  stand  alone  and,  in  that  first  terrible  sohtari- 
ness,  choose  and  reject.  In  an  educational  age  we  may 
often  be  tempted  to  sneer  at  the  doctrine  of  immediate 
conversion.  It  is  true,  nevertheless.  A  man  has  come 
to  the  parting  of  the  two  ways,  and  choice  must  be 
made,  because  they  are  two  ways.  To  no  living  man 
is  it  given  to  walk  the  broad  and  tlie  narrow  ways. 
Entrance  is  by  different  gates.     The  hisory  of  some  of 


xi.  23-28.]  THE  FAITH  OF  MOSES.  243 

the  most  saintly  men  presents  an  entire  change  of 
motive,  of  character  even,  and  of  general  life,  as 
produced  through  one  strong  act  of  faith. 

When  the  Apostle  vi^rote  to  the  Hebrew  Christians, 
the  time  was  critical.  The  question  of  Christian  or  not 
Christian  brooked  no  delay.  The  Son  of  man  was 
nigh,  at  the  doors.  Even  after  swift  vengeance  had 
overtaken  the  doomed  city  of  Jerusalem,  the  urgent 
cry  was  still  the  same.  In  the  so-called  "  Epistle 
of  Barnabas,"  in  the  "  Pastor  of  Hermas,"  and  in  the 
priceless  treasure  recently  brought  to  light,  "  The 
Teaching  of  the  Twelve  Apostles,"  the  two  ways  are 
described :  the  way  of  life  and  the  way  of  death.  Those 
who  professed  and  called  themselves  Christians  were 
warned  to  make  the  right  choice.  It  was  no  time  for 
facing  both  ways,  and  halting  between  two  opinions. 

Moses  too  refused  and  chose.  This  is  the  second 
scene  in  the  history  of  the  man.  Standing  as  he  did 
at  the  fountain-head  of  nationalism,  the  prominence 
assigned  to  his  act  of  individual  choice  and  rejection 
is  very  significant.  Before  his  days  the  heirs  of  the 
promise  were  in  the  bond  of  God's  covenant  in  virtue 
of  their  birth.  They  were  members  of  the  elect  family. 
After  the  days  of  Moses  every  Israelite  enjoyed  the 
privileges  of  the  covenant  by  right  of  national  descent. 
They  were  the  elect  nation.  Moses  stands  at  the 
turning  point.     The   nation   now   absorbs  the  familyji 


244  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS. 

which  becomes  henceforth  part  of  the  larger  conception. 
In  the  critical  moment  between  the  two,  a  great  person- 
ality emerges  above  the  confusion.  The  patriarchal 
Church  of  the  family  comes  to  a  dispensational  end  in 
giving  birth  to  a  great  man.  That  man's  personal  act 
of  refusing  the  broad  and  choosing  the  narrow  way 
marks  the  birth  of  the  theocratic  Church  of  nationalism. 
Before  and  after,  personality  is  of  secondary  importance. 
In  Moses  for  a  moment  it  is  everything. 

Do  we  seek  the  motives  that  determined  his  choice  ? 
The  Apostle  mentions  two,  and  they  are  really  two 
sides  of  the  same  conception. 

First,  he  chose  to  be  evil-entreated  with  the  people 
of  God.  The  work  of  his  life  was  to  create  a  spiritual 
nation.  This  idea  had  already  been  presented  to  his 
mind  before  he  refused  to  be  called  the  son  of  Pharaoh's 
daughter.  "  He  was  instructed  in  all  the  wisdom  of 
the  Egyptians ;  and  he  was  mighty  in  his  words  and 
works."  *  But  an  idea  had  taken  possession  of  him. 
That  idea  had  already  invested  the  miserable  and 
despised  bondsmen  with  glory.  Truly  no  man  will 
achieve  great  things  who  does  not  pay  homage  to  an 
idea,  and  is  not  ready  to  sacrifice  wealth  and  position 
for  the  sake  of  what  is  as  yet  only  a  thought.  He  who 
sells  the  world  for  an  idea  is  not  far  from  the  kingdom 


'  Acts  vii.  22. 


xi.  23-28.]  THE  FAITH   OF  MOSES,  24$ 

of  heaven.  He  will  be  prepared  to  forfeit  all  that  the 
world  can  give  him  for  the  sake  of  Him  in  Whom  truth 
eternally  dwells  in  fulness  and  perfection.  Such  a  man 
was  Moses.  Had  not  his  parents  often  told  him,  when 
his  mother  was  nourishing  the  child  for  Pharaoh's 
daughter,  of  the  wonderful  story  of  their  hiding  him  by 
faith  and  afterwards  putting  him  in  an  ark  of  bulrushes 
by  the  river's  brim  ?  Did  not  his  mother  bring  him  up 
to  be  at  once  the  son  of  Pharaoh's  daughter  and  the 
deliverer  of  Israel  ?  Was  the  boy  not  living  a  double 
life  ?  He  was  gradually  coming  to  understand  that  he 
was  to  be  the  heir  of  the  throne,  and  that  he  would  or 
might  be  the  destroyer  of  that  throne.  May  we  not, 
with  profoundest  reverence,  liken  it  to  the  twofold  inner 
life  of  the  Child  Jesus  when  at  Nazareth  He  came  to 
know  that  He,  the  Child  of  Mary,  was  the  Son  of  the 
Highest  ? 

Stephen  continues  the  story :  "  When  he  was  well- 
nigh  forty  years  old,  it  came  into  his  heart  to  visit  his 
brethren  the  children  of  Israel."  ^'  He  went  out  unto 
his  brethren,"  we  are  told  in  the  narrative,  "  and  looked 
on  their  burdens."  *  But  the  author  of  the  Epistle  to 
the  Hebrews  perceives  in  the  act  of  Mo&es  more  than 
love  of  kindred.  The  slaves  of  Pharaoh  were,  in  the 
eyes   of  Moses,    the    people   of   God.      The  national 

*  Exod.  ii.  II. 


246  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS. 

consecration  had  already  taken  place ;  he  himself  was 
already  swayed  by  the  glorious  hope  of  delivering  his 
brethren,  the  covenant  people  of  God,  from  the  hands 
of  their  oppressors.  This  is  the  explanation  which 
Stephen  gives  of  his  conduct  in  slaying  the  Egyptian. 
When  he  saw  one  of  the  children  of  Israel  suffer  wrong, 
he  defended  him  and  smote  the  Egyptian,  supposing 
that  his  brethren  understood  how  that  God  by  his  hand 
was  giving  them  deliverance.  The  deed  was,  in  fact, 
intended  to  be  a  call  to  united  effort.  He  was  throwing 
the  gauntlet.  He  was  deliberately  making  it  impossible 
for  him  to  return  to  the  former  hfe  of  pomp  and  courtly 
worship.  He  wished  the  Hebrews  to  understand  his 
decision,  and  accept  at  once  his  leadership.  ^'  But  they 
understood  not." 

Our  author  pierces  still  deeper  into  the  motives  that 
swayed  his  spirit.  It  was  not  a  selfish  ambition,  nor 
merely  a  patriotic  desire  to  put  himself  at  the  head 
of  a  host  of  slaves  bent  on  asserting  their  rights. 
Simultaneous  with  the  social  movement  there  was  a 
spiritual  work  accomplished  in  the  personal,  inner  life 
of  Moses  himself.  All  true,  heaven-inspired  revolutions 
in  society  are  accompanied  by  a  personal  discipline 
and  trial  of  the  leaders.  This  is  the  infallible  test 
of  the  movement  itself.  If  the  men  who  control  it 
do  not  become  themselves  more  profound,  more  pure, 
more   spiritual,   they  are  counterfeit  leaders,  and   the 


xi.  23-28.]  THE  FAITH  OF  MOSES.  247 

movement  they  advocate  is  not  of  God.  The  writer 
of  the  Epistle  argues  from  the  decision  of  Moses  to 
deliver  his  brethren  that  his  own  spiritual  life  was 
become  deeper  and  holier.  When  he  refused  to  be 
called  the  son  of  Pharaoh's  daughter,  he  also  rejected 
the  pleasures  of  sin.  He  took  his  stand  resolutely  on 
the  side  of  goodness.  The  example  of  Joseph  was 
before  him,  of  whom  the  same  words  are  said  :  "  he 
refused"  to  sin  against  God. 

As  the  crisis  in  his  own  spiritual  life  fitted  him  to 
be  the  leader  of  a  great  national  movement,  so  also  his 
conception  of  that  movement  became  a  help  to  him  to 
overcome  the  sinful  temptations  of  Egypt.  He  saw 
that  the  pleasures  of  sin  were  but  for  a  season.  It  is 
easy  to  supply  the  other  side  of  this  thought.  The  joy 
of  delivering  his  brethren  would  never  pass  away. 
He  welcomed  the  undying  joy  of  self-sacrifice,  and  re- 
pudiated the  momentary  pleasures  of  self-gratification. 

Second^  he  accounted  the  reproach  of  Christ  greater 
riches  than  the  treasures  of  Egypt.  Not  only  the 
people  of  God,  but  also  the  Christ  of  God,  determined 
his  choice.  An  idea  is  not  enough.  It  must  rest  on 
a  person,  and  that  person  must  be  greater  than  the 
idea.  He  may  be  himself  but  an  idea.  But,  even 
when  it  is  so,  he  is  the  glorious  thought  in  which  all 
the  other  hopes  and  imaginations  of  faith  centre  and 
merge.     If  he  is  more  than  an   idea,  if  it  is  a  living 


248  THE  EPISTLE    TO   THE  HEBREWS. 

person  that  controls  the  man's  thoughts  and  becomes 
the  motive  of  his  life,  a  new  quality  will  then  enter  into 
that  life.  Conscience  will  awake.  The  question  of 
doing  what  is  right  will  control  ambition,  if  it  will  not 
quite  absorb  it.  Treachery  to  the  idea  of  life  will  now 
be  felt  to  be  a  sin,  if  conscience  has  pronounced  that 
the  idea  itself  is  not  immoral,  but  good  and  noble. 
For,  when  conscience  permits,  faith  will  not  lag  behind, 
and  will  proclaim  that  the  moral  is  also  spiritual,  that 
the  spiritual  is  an  ever-abiding  possession. 

Many  expositors  strive  hard  to  make  the  words  mean 
something  else  than  the  reproach  which  Christ  Himself 
suffered.  It  is  marvellous  that  the  great  doctrine  of 
Christ's  personal  activity  in  the  Church  before  His 
incarnation  should  have  so  entirely  escaped  the  notice 
of  the  older  school  of  English  theology.  On  this 
passage,  for  instance,  such  commentators  as  Macknight, 
Whitby,  Scott,  explain  the  words  to  mean  that  Moses 
esteemed  the  scoffs  cast  on  the  Israelites  for  expecting 
the  Christ  to  arise  from  among  them  greater  riches 
than  the  treasures  of  Egypt.  The  more  profound 
exegesis  of  Germany  has  made  the  truth  of  Christ's 
pre-existence  essential  to  the  theology  of  the  New 
Testament.  Far  from  being  an  innovation,  it  has 
brought  us  back  to  the  view  of  the  greater  theologians 
in  every  age  of  the  Church. 

We  cannot  enter  into  the  general  question.      Con- 


xi.  23-28.3  THE  FAITH  OF  MOSES.  249 

fining  ourselves  to  the  subject  in  hand,  the  faith  of 
Moses,  why  may  we  not  suppose  that  he  had  heard 
of  the  patriarch  Jacob's  blessing  on  Judah  ?  It  had 
been  uttered  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  where  Moses  was 
brought  up.  It  spoke  of  a  Lawgiver.  Did  not  the 
consciousness  of  his  own  mission  lead  Moses  to  apply 
the  reference  to  the  long  succession  of  leaders,  whether 
judges  or  kings  or  prophets,  who  would  follow  in  his 
wake  ?  If  so,  could  he  have  altogether  misunderstood 
the  promise  of  the  Shiloh  ?  Jacob  had  spoken  of  a 
personal  King,  Whom  the  people  would  obey.  But 
nowhere  in  the  Old  Testament,  not  once  in  the  history 
of  Moses,  is  the  coming  of  Messiah  represented  as  the 
goal  of  the  national  development.  Christ  is  not  the 
flowering  of  Judaism.  On  the  contrary,  the  Angel 
of  the  covenant  established  through  Moses  is  not 
a  ministering  servant,  sent  forth  to  minister  on  the 
chosen  people.  He  is  the  Lord  Jehovah  Himself. 
Christ  was  with  Israel,  and  Moses  knew  it.  We  may 
admit  the  vagueness  of  his  conception,  but  we  cannot 
deny  the  conception.  To  Moses,  as  to  the  Psalmist, 
the  reproaches  of  them  that  reproached  Israel  fell  on 
the  Christ.  Community  in  suffering  was  enough  to 
ensure  community  in  the  glory  to  be  revealed.  Suffer- 
ing with  Christ,  they  would  also  be  glorified  with 
Christ.  This  was  the  recompense  of  reward  to  which 
Moses  looked. 


250  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS, 

The  lesson  taught  to  the  Hebrew  Christians  by  the 
decision  of  Moses  is  loyalty  to  truth  and  loyalty  to 
Jesus  Christ. 

3.  Faith  is  a  discipline  for  the  work  of  life.  Moses 
has  made  his  final  choice.  Conscience  is  thoroughly 
awake,  and  eager  aspirations  fill  his  soul.  But  he  is 
not  yet  strong.  Men  of  large  ideas  are  often  found  to 
be  lacking  in  courage.  A  cloistered  is  often  a  fugitive 
virtue.  But,  apart  from  want  of  practical  resolution  to 
face  the  difficulties  of  the  situation,  special  training  is 
needed  for  special  work.  Israel  had  come  into  Egypt 
to  endure  chastening  and  be  made  fit  for  national 
independence.  But  in  Egypt  Moses  was  a  courtier, 
perhaps  heir  to  the  throne.  That  he  may  be  chastened 
and  fitted  for  his  share  of  the  work  which  God  was 
about  to  accomplish  towards  His  people,  he  must  be 
driven  out  of  Egypt  into  the  wilderness.  Every 
servant  of  God  is  sent  into  the  wilderness.  St.  Paul 
was  three  years  in  Arabia  between  his  conversion  and 
his  entrance  on  the  work  of  the  ministry.  Jesus  Him- 
self was  led  up  of  the  Spirit  into  the  wilderness.  He 
learned  endurance  in  forty  days,  Moses  in  forty  years. 

It  will  be  seen  that  we  accept  the  explanation  of  the 
twenty-seventh  verse  given  by  all  expositors  down  to 
the  time  of  De  Lyra  and  Calvin.  But  in  modern  times  it 
has  been  customary  to  say  that  the  Apostle  refers  to  the 
final  departure  of  the  children  of  Israel  out  of  Egypt  with 


xi.  23-28.]  THE  FAITH  OF  MOSES,  251 

a  Strong  hand  and  outstretched  arm.     Our  reasons  for 
preferring  the  other  view  are  these.     The  departure  of 
the  Israelites  through  the  Red  Sea  is  mentioned  sub- 
sequently ;   an  event  that  occurred   before  the  people 
left  Egypt  is  mentioned  in  the  next  verse,   and  it  is 
very  improbable  that  the  writer  would  refer  to  their 
departure  first,  then  to  the  events  that  preceded,  then 
once  more  speak  of  their  departure.     Further,  the  word 
well  rendered   by  the  Old  and  the  Revised  Versions 
''  forsook  "  expresses  precisely  the  notion  of  going  out 
alone,  in  despondency,  as  if  Moses  had  abandoned  the 
hope  of  being  the   deliverer   of  Israel.      If  we   have 
correctly  understood  the  Apostle's  purpose  in  the  entire 
passage,  this  is  the  very  notion  which  we  should  expect 
him  to  introduce.     Moses  forsakes  Egypt,  deserts  his 
brethren,   abandons   his  work.      He    flees    from    the 
vengeance  of  Pharaoh.     Yet  all  this  fear,  hopelessness, 
and  unbelief  is  only  the  partial  aspect  of  what,  taken 
as  a  whole,  is  the  action  of  faith.     He  still  believes  in 
his  glorious  idea,  and  is  still  willing  to  bear  the  reproach 
of  Christ.     He  will  not  return  to  the  court  and  make 
his  submission  to  the  king.     But  the  time  is  not  come, 
he   thinks,    or  he   is   not   the   man   to  deliver  Israel. 
Forty  years  afterwards  he  is  still  loath  to  be  sent.     He 
forsook  Egypt  because  the  people  did  not  believe  him ; 
after  forty  years  he  asks  the  Lord  to  send  another  for 
the  very  same  reason :  "  Behold,  they  will  not  believe 


252  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS, 

me,  nor  hearken  unto  my  voice."  But  we  should  be 
obtuse  indeed  if  we  failed  to  recognise  the  faith  that 
underlies  his  despondency.  Doubt  is  oftentimes  partial 
faith. 

Let  us  place  ourselves  in  his  position.  He  refuses 
the  selfish  luxury  and  worldly  glory  of  Pharaoh's  court, 
that  he  may  rush  to  deliver  his  brethren.  He  brings 
with  him  the  consciousness  of  superiority,  and  at  once 
assumes  the  duty  of  composing  their  quarrels.  Evi- 
dently he  is  a  believer  in  God,  but  a  believer  also  in 
himself.  Such  men  are  not  God's  instruments.  He  will 
have  a  man  be  the  one  thing  or  the  other.  If  the  man 
is  self-confident,  conscious  of  his  own  prowess,  oblivious 
of  God  or  a  denier  of  Him,  the  Most  High  can  use  him 
to  do  His  work,  to  his  own  destruction.  If  the  man 
has  no  confidence  in  the  flesh,  knows  his  utter  weak- 
ness and  very  nothingness,  and  yields  himself  to  God's 
hand  entirely,  with  no  by-ends  to  seek,  him  too  God 
uses  to  do  His  work,  to  the  man's  own  salvation.  But 
Moses  strove  to  combine  faith  in  God  and  in  himself. 
He  was  at  once  thwarted.  His  brethren  taunted 
him,  when  he  expected  to  be  trusted  and  honoured. 
Despondency  takes  possession  of  his  spirit.  But  his 
trepidation  is  on  the  surface.  Beneath  it  is  a  great  deep 
of  faith.  "V^'hat  he  now  needs  is  discipline.  God  leads 
him  to  the  back  of  the  wilderness.  The  courtier  serves 
as  a  herdsman.      Far  removed  from  the  monumental 


xi.  23-28.]  THE  FAITH  OF  MOSES.  253 

literature  of  Egypt,  he  communes  with  himself,  and 
with  nature's  mighty  visions.  He  gazes  upon  the 
dread  and  silent  mountain,  hallowed  of  old  as  the 
habitation  of  God.  He  had  already,  in  Egypt,  learned 
the  faith  of  Joseph  and  of  Jacob.  Now,  in  Midian,  he 
will  imbibe  the  faith  of  Isaac  and  of  Abraham.  Far 
from  the  busy  haunts  of  men,  the  din  of  cities,  the  stir 
of  the  market-place,  he  will  learn  how  to  pray,  how  to 
divest  himself  of  all  confidence  in  the  flesh,  and  how 
to  worship  the  Invisible  alone.  For  ^' he  endured  a? 
seeing  Him  Who  is  invisible."  Do  not  paraphrase  it 
'*  the  invisible  King.'*  That  is  too  narrow.  It  was  not 
Pharaoh  only  that  had  vanished  out  of  his  sight  and 
out  of  his  thoughts.  Moses  himself  had  disappeared. 
He  had  broken  down  when  he  trusted  himself.  He 
now  endures,  because  he  sees  nought  but  God.  Surely 
he  was  in  the  same  blessed  state  of  mind  in  which  St. 
Paul  was  when  he  said,  *'  I  live,  yet  not  I,  but  Christ 
liveth  in  me."  When  Moses  and  when  Paul  ceased 
to  be  anything,  and  God  was  to  them  everything,  they 
were  strong  to  endure.* 

4.  Faith  renders  the  work  of  life  sacramental. 
The  long  period  of  discipline  has  drawn  to  a  close. 
The  self-confidence  of  Moses  has  been  fully  subdued. 

*  After  penning  the  above  the  writer  of  these  pages  saw  that,  in  his 
view  of  the  purpose  of  the  sojourn  in  Midian,  he  had  been  anticipated 
by  Kurtz  {History  of  the  Old  Covenant), 


254  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS. 

"  He  supposed  that  his  brethren  understood  how  that 
God  by  his  hand  was  giving  them  deliverance." 
These,  says  Stephen,  were  his  thoughts  before  he  fled 
from  Egypt.  Very  different  is  his  language  after  the 
probation  of  the  wilderness  :  ''Who  am  I,  that  I  should 
go  unto  Pharaoh,  and  that  I  should  bring  forth  the 
children  of  Israel  out  of  Egypt  ? "  Four  times  he 
pleads  and  deprecates.  Not  until  the  anger  of  the 
Lord  is  kindled  against  him  does  he  take  heart  to 
attempt  the  formidable  task. 

The  Hebrews  had  been  more  than  two  hundred  years 
in  the  house  of  bondage.  So  far  as  we  know,  the 
Lord  had  not  once  appeared  or  spoken  to  men  for  six 
generations.  No  revelation  was  given  between  Jacob's 
vision  at  Beersheba*  and  the  vision  of  the  burning 
bush.  We  may  well  believe  that  there  were  in  those 
days  mockers,  saying.  The  age  of  miracles  is  past ; 
the  supernatural  is  played  out.  But  Moses  henceforth 
lives  in  a  veritable  world  of  miracles.  The  super- 
natural came  with  a  rush,  like  the  waking  of  a  sleeping 
volcano.  Signs  .and  wonders  encompass  him  on  every 
side.  The  J)ush  burns  unconsumed ;  the  rod  in  his 
hand  is  cast  on  the  ground,  and  becomes  a  serpent ;  he 
takes  the  serpent  in  his  hand  again,  and  it  becomes  a 
rod;  he  puts  his  hand  into  his  bosom,  and  it  is  leprous; 
he  puts  the  leprous  hand  into  his  bosom,  and  it  -is  as 
*  Gen.  xlvi.  2. 


xi.  23-28.]  THE  FAITH  OF  MOSES.  255 

K . . 

his  other  flesh.  When  he  returns  into  Egypt,  signs  vie 
with  signs,  God  with  demons.  Plague  follows  plague. 
Moses  lifts  up  his  rod  over  the  sea,  and  the  children  of 
Israel  go  on  dry  ground  through  the  midst  of  the  sea. 
At  last  he  stands  once  more  on  Horeb.  But  in  the 
short  interval  between  the  day  when  one  poor  thorn- 
bush  of  the  desert  glowed  with  flame  and  the  day  on 
which  Sinai  was  altogether  on  a  smoke  and  the  whole 
mountain  quaked,  a  religious  revolution  had  occurred 
second  only  to  one  in  the  history  of  the  race.  At 
the  touch  of  their  leader's  wand  a  nation  was  born  in 
a  day.  The  immense  transition  from  the  Church  in  a 
family  to  a  holy  nation  was  brought  about  suddenly, 
but  effectively,  when  the  people  were  hopeless  outcasts 
and  Moses  himself  had  lost  heart. 

Such  a  revolution  must  be  inaugurated  with  sacrifice 
and  with  sacrament.  The  sins  of  the  past  must  be 
expiated  and  forgiven,  and  the  people,  cleansed  from 
the  guilt  of  their  too  frequent  apostasy  from  the  God 
of  their  fathers,  must  be  dedicated  anew  to  the  service 
of  Jehovah.  The  patriarchal  dispensation  expired  in 
the  birth  of  a  holy  nation.  The  Passover  was  both  a 
sacrifice  and  a  sacrament,  an  expiation  and  a  consecra- 
tion. It  retained  its  sacrificial  character  till  Christ,  the 
true  Paschal  Lamb,  was  slain.  As  a  sacrifice  it  then 
ceased.  But  sacrament  continues,  and  will  continue  as 
long  as  the  Church  exists  on  earth. 


256  THE  EPISTLE    TO    THE  HEBREWS, 

Moses  had  seen  the  invisible  God.  The  burning 
bush  had  symbolized  the  sacramental  nature  of  the 
work  which  he  had  been  called  to  do.  God  would  be 
in  Israel  as  He  was  in  the  bush,  and  Israel  would  not 
be  consumed.  He  Who  is  to  His  foes  a  consuming 
fire  dwells  among  His  people,  as  the  vital  heat  and 
glow  of  their  national  life.  The  eye  that  can  see  Him 
is  faith.  This  is  the  power  that  can  transform  the 
whole  life  of  man,  and  make  it  sacramental.  Too  long 
has  man's  earthly  existence  been  divided  into  two 
separate  spheres.  On  the  one  side  and  for  a  stated 
time  he  lives  to  God ;  on  the  other  side  he  relinquishes 
himself  for  a  period  to  the  pursuits  of  the  world.  We 
seem  to  think  that  the  secular  cannot  be  religious,  and, 
consequently,  that  the  religiousness  of  one  day  or  of 
one  place  will  make  amends  for  the  irreligion  of  the 
rest  of  life.  The  Passover  consecrated  a  nation. 
Baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper  have,  times  without 
number,  consecrated  the  individual.  The  true  Chris- 
tian life  draws  its  vital  sap  from  God.  It  is  not  clever- 
ness and  worldly  success,  but  unselfish  loyalty  to  the 
supernatural,  and  incessant  prayer,  that  marks  the  man 
who  lives  by  faith. 


A    CLOUD    OF    WITNESSES. 


**  Therefore  let  us  also,  seeing  we  are  compassed  about  with  so  great 
a  cloud  of  witnesses,  lay  aside  every  weight,  and  the  sin  which  doth  so 
easily  beset  us,  and  let  us  run  with  patience  the  race  that  is  set  before 
us,  looking  unto  Jesus  the  Author  and  Perfecter  of  our  faith,  who  for  the 
joy  that  was  set  before  Him  endured  the  Cross,  despising  shame,  and 
hath  sat  down  at  the  right  hand  of  the  throne  of  God.  For  consider 
Him  that  hath  endured  such  gainsaying  of  sinners  against  themselves, 
that  ye  wax  not  weary,  fainting  in  your  souls.  Ye  have  not  yet  resisted 
unto  blood,  striving  against  sin  :  and  ye  have  forgotten  the  exhortation, 
which  reasoneth  with  you  as  with  sons. 

My  son,  regard  not  lightly  the  chastening  of  the  Lord, 
Nor  faint  when  thou  art  reproved  of  Him  ; 

For  whom  the  Lord  loveth  He  chasteneth, 

And  scourgeth  every  son  whom  He  receiveth. 

It  is  for  chastening  that  ye  endure  ;  God  dealeth  with  you  as  with  sons  ; 
for  what  son  is  there  whom  his  father  chasteneth  not  ?  But  if  ye  are 
without  chastening,  whereof  all  have  been  made  partakers,  then  are  ye 
bastards,  and  not  sons.  Furthermore,  we  had  the  fathers  of  our  flesh  to 
chasten  us,  and  we  gave  them  reverence  :  shall  we  not  much  rather  be 
in  subjection  unto  the  Father  of  spirits,  and  live  ?  For  they  verily  for  a 
few  days  chastened  us  as  seemed  good  to  them  ;  but  He  for  our  profit, 
that  we  may  be  partakers  of  His  holiness.  All  chastening  seemeth  for 
the  present  to  be  not  joyous,  but  grievous  :  yet  afterward  it  yieldeth 
peaceable  fruit  unto  them  that  have  been  exercised  thereby,  even  the 
fruit  of  righteousness.  Wherefore  lift  up  the  hands  that  hang  down, 
and  the  palsied  knees  ;  and  make  straight  paths  for  your  feet,  that  that 
which  is  lame  be  not  turned  out  of  the  way,  but  rather  be  healed. 
Follow  after  peace  with  all  men,  and  the  sanctification  without  which 
no  man  shall  see  the  Lord  :  looking  carefully  lest  there  be  any  man  that 
falleth  short  of  the  grace  of  God  ;  lest  any  root  of  bitterness  springing 
up  trouble  you^  and  thereby  the  many  be  defiled  ;  lest  there  be  any 
fornicator,  or  profane  person,  as  Esau,  who  for  one  mess  of  meat  sold 
his  own  birthright.  For  ye  know  that  even  when  he  afterward  desired 
to  inherit  the  blessing,  he  was  rejected  (for  he  found  no  place  of  repent- 
ance), though  he  sought  it  diligently  with  tears." — Heb.  xii.  i — 17 
{R.V.). 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

A    CLOUD    OF    WITNESSES, 

npiME  fails  us  to  dilate  on  the  faith  of  the  other 
saints  of  the  old  covenant.  But  they  must  not 
be  passed  over  in  silence.  The  impression  produced 
by  our  author's  splendid  roll  of  the  heroes  of  faith  in 
the  eleventh  chapter  is  the  result  quite  as  much  of  an 
accumulation  of  examples  as  of  the  special  greatness  of 
a  few  among  them.  At  the  close  they  appear  like  an 
overhanging  "  cloud  "  of  witnesses  for  God. 

By  faith  Isaac  blessed  Jacob  and  Esau  ;  and  Jacob, 
dying  in  a  strange  land,  blessed  the  sons  of  Joseph, 
distinguishing  wittingly,  and  bestowing  on  each  *  his 
own  peculiar  blessing.  His  faith  became  a  prophetic 
inspiration,  and  even  distinguished  between  the  future 
cf  Ephraim  and  the  future  of  Manasseh.  He  did  not 
create  the  blessing.  He  was  only  a  steward  of  God's 
mysteries.  Faith  v^ell  understood  its  own  limitations. 
But  it  drew  its  inspiration  to  foretell  what  was  to  come 
from  a  remembrance  of  God's  faithfulness  in  the  past. 

*  eKaarov  (xi.  21). 


26o  THE  EPISTLE    TO    THE  HEBREWS, 

For,  before*  he  gave  his  blessing,  he  had  bowed 
his  head  in  worship,  leaning  upon  the  top  of  his  staff. 
In  his  dying  hour  he  recalled  the  day  on  which  he  had 
passed  over  Jordan  with  his  staff, — a  day  remembered 
by  him  once  before,  when  he  had  become  two  bands, 
wrestled  with  the  angel,  and  halted  on  his  thigh.  His 
staff  had  become  his  token  of  the  covenant,  his  re- 
minder of  God's  faithfulness,  his  sacrament,  or  visible 
sign  of  an  invisible  grace. 

Joseph,  though  he  was  so  completely  Egyptianised 
that  he  did  not,  like  Jacob,  ask  to  be  buried  in  Canaan, 
and  only  two  of  his  sons  became,  through  Jacob's 
blessing,  heirs  of  the  promise,  yet  gave  commandment 
concerning  his  bones.  His  faith  believed  that  the 
promise  given  to  Abraham  would  be  fulfilled.  The 
children  of  Israel  might  dwell  in  Goshen  and  prosper. 
But  they  would  sooner  or  later  return  to  Canaan. 
When  his  end  drew  near,  his  Egyptian  greatness  was 
forgotten.  The  piety  of  his  childhood  returned.  He 
remembered  God's  promise  to  his  fathers.  Perhaps 
it  was  his  father  Jacob's  dying  blessing  that  had 
revived  the  thoughts  of  the  past  and  fanned  his  faith 
into  a  steady  flame. 

"  By  faith  the  walls  of  Jericho  fell  down."  f     When 
the  Israelites  had  crossed  Jordan  and  eaten  of  the  old 

*  Gen.  xlvii.  31..  f  Chap.  xi.  30. 


xi.  20-xii.  I.]         A    CLOUD   OF   WITNESSES.  261 

corn  of  the  land,  the  manna  ceased.  The  period  of 
continued  miracle  came  to  an  end.  Henceforth  they 
would  smite  their  enemies  with  their  armed  thousands. 
But  one  signal  miracle  the  Lord  would  yet  perform  in 
the  sight  of  all  Israel.  The  walls  of  the  first  city  they 
came  to  would  fall  down  flat,  when  the  seven  priests 
would  blow  with  the  trumpets  of  rams'  horns  the 
seventh  time  on  the  seventh  day.  Israel  believed,  and 
as  God  had  said,  so  it  came  to  pass. 

The  treachery  of  a  harlot  even  is  mentioned  by  the 
Apostle  as  an  instance  of  faith.*  Justly.  For,  whilst 
her  past  life  and  present  act  were  neither  better  nor 
worse  than  the  morality  of  her  time,  she  saw  the  hand 
of  the  God  of  heaven  in  the  conquest  of  the  land,  and 
bowed  to  His  decision.  This  was  a  greater  faith  than 
that  of  her  daughter-in-law,  Ruth,  whose  name  is  not 
mentioned.  Ruth  believed  in  Naomi  and,  as  a  conse- 
quence, accepted  Naomi's  God  and  people,  f  Rahab 
believed  in  God  first,  and,  therefore,  accepted  the 
Israelitish  conquest  and  adopted  the  nationality  of  the 
conquerors.  \ 

Of  the  judges  the  Apostle  selects  four :  Gideon, 
Barak,  Samson,  Jephthah.  The  mention  of  Barak 
must  be  understood  to  include  Deborah,  who  was  the 
mind  and  heart  that  moved  Barak's  arm  ;  and  Deborah 

*  Chap.  xi.  31.  t  R^th  i.  16.  J.  Matt.  i.  $. 


THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS. 


was  a  prophetess  of  the  Lord.  She  and  Barak  wrought 
their  mighty  deeds  and  sang  their  paean  in  faith.* 
Gideon  put  the  Midianites  to  flight  by  faith ;  for  he 
•  knew  that  his  sword  was  the  sword  of  the  Lord,  f 
Jephthah  was  a  man  of  faith ;  for  he  vowed  a  vow 
unto  the  Lord,  and  would  not  go  back.  %  Samson  had 
faith  ;  for  he  was  a  Nazarite  to  God  from  his  mother's 
womb,  and  in  his  last  extremity  called  unto  the  Lord 
and  prayed.  § 

The  Apostle  does  not  name  Othniel,  Ehud,  Shamgar, 
and  the  rest.  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  came  upon  them 
also.  They  too  were  mighty  through  God.  But  the 
narrative  does  not  tell  us  that  they  prayed,  or  that 
their  soul  consciously  and  believingly  responded  to  the 
voice  of  Heaven.  Alaric,  while  on  his  march  towards 
Rome,  said  to  a  holy  monk,  who  entreated  him  to  spare 
the  city,  that  he  did  not  go  of  his  own  will,  but  that 
One  was  continually  urging  him  forward  to  take  it.|| 
Many  are  the  scourges  of  God  that  know  not  the  hand 
that  wields  them. 

Individuals    ''  through    faith    subdued    kingdoms."  IF 


*  Judges  iv.  and  v. 

f  Judges  vii.  i8. 

X  Judges  xi.  35. 

§  Judges  xiii.  7  ;   xvi.  28. 

II    Robertson,  History  of  the  Christian  Churchy  book  ii.,  chap.  vii. 

\  Chap.  xi.  33. 


xi.  20-xii.  I.]         A    CLOUD   OF  WITNESSES.  263 

Gideon  dispersed  the  Midianites;*  Barak  discomfited 
Sisera,  the  captain  of  Jabin  king  of  Canaan's  host ; 
Jephthah  smote  the  Ammonites ;  f  David  held  the 
Phihstines  in  check,  %  measured  Moab  with  a  Hne,  § 
and  put  garrisons  in  Syria  of  Damascus.  Samuel 
"  wrought  righteousness/'  and  taught  the  people  the 
good  and  the  right  way.||  David  "  obtained  the  fulfil- 
ment of  God's  promises  : "  his  house  was  blessed  that 
it  should  continue  for  ever  before  God.^  Daniel's  faith 
stopped  the  mouths  of  lions.**  The  faith  of  Shadrach, 
Meshach,  and  Abednego  trusted  in  God,  and  quenched 
the  power  of  the  fire,  without  extinguishing  its  flame. ff 
Elijah  escaped  the  edge  of  Ahab's  sword,  ft  Elisha's 
faith  saw  the  mountain  full  of  horses  and  chariots  of 
fire  round  about  him.  §§  Hezekiah  "  from  weakness 
was  made  strong."  |{||  The  Maccabaean  princes  waxed 
mighty  in  war  and  turned  to  flight  armies  of  alien s.HH 
The  widow  of  Zarephath***  and  the  Shunammitefft  re- 
ceived their  dead  back  into  their  embrace  in  consequence 
of  til  a  resurrection  wrought  by  the  faith  of  the  pro- 
phets. Others  refused  deliverance,  gladly  accepting 
the  alternative  to  unfaithfulness,  to  be  beaten  to  death. 


*  Judges  vii.  IF  2  Sam.  vii.  28,  29.  |i||  2  Kings  xx.  5. 

f  Judges  xi.  33.  **  Dan.  vi.  22.  W  i  Mace.  v. 

X  2  Sam.  V.  25.  tt  Dan.  iii.  27,  28.  ***  i  Kings  xvii.  22. 

§  2  Sam.  viii.  2,  6.  J  J  i  Kings  xix.  1—3.  fff  2  Kings  iv.  35. 

II   I  Sam.  xii.  23.  §§  2  Kings  vi.  17.  XW  e|  (chap.  xi.  35). 


264  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS. 

that  they  might  be  accounted  worthy*  to  attain  the 
better  world  and  the  resurrection,  not  o/,  but/ro;w,  the 
dead,  which  is  the  resurrection  to  eternal  life.  Such  a 
man  was  the  aged  Eleazar  in  the  time  of  the  Maccabees. f 
Zechariah  was  stoned  to  death  at  the  commandment  of 
Joash  the  king  in  the  court  of  the  house  of  the  Lord.f 
Isaiah  is  said  to  have  been  sawn  asunder  in  extreme  old 
age  by  the  order  of  Manasseh.  Others  were  burnt  § 
by  Antiochus  Epiphanes.  Elijah  had  no  settled  abode, 
but  went  from  place  to  place  clad  in  a  garment  of  hair, 
the  skin  of  sheep  or  goat.  It  ought  not  to  be  a  matter 
of  surprise  that  these  men  of  God  had  no  dwelling- 
place,  but  were,  like  the  Apostles  after  them,  buffeted, 
persecuted,  defamed,  and  made  as  the  filth  of  the 
world,  the  offscouring  of  all  things.  For  the  world  was 
not  worthy  of  them.  The  world  crucified  their  Lord, 
and  they  would  be  ashamed  of  accepting  better  treat- 
ment than  He  received.  By  the  world  is  meant  the  life 
of  those  who  know  not  Christ.  The  men  of  faith  were 
driven  out  of  the  cities  into  the  desert,  out  of  homes 
into  prisons.  But  their  faith  was  an  assurance  of 
things  hoped  for  and,  therefore,  a  solvent  of  fear. 
Their  proving  of  things  not  seen  rendered  the  prison, 
as    Tertullian    says,||    a    place    of  retirement,    and    the 

*  Luke  XX.  35.  J  2  Chron.  xxiv.  21. 

t  2  Macc"  vi.  19.  §  Reading  eirpijce-ritxav. 

Ad  Martyras,  2. 


xi.  20-xii.  I.]         A    CLOUD   OF  WITNESSES.  265 

desert  a  welcome  escape  from  the  abominations  that 
met  their  eyes  wherever  the  world  had  set  up  its 
vanity  fair. 

All  these  sturdy  men  of  faith  have  had  witness  borne 
to  them  in  Scripture.  This  honour  they  won  from 
time  to  time,  as  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  which  was  in  the 
prophets,  saw  fit  to  encourage  the  people  of  God  on 
earth  by  their  example.  Are  we  forbidden  to  suppose 
that  this  witness  to  their  faith  gladdened  their  own 
glorified  spirits,  and  calmed  their  eager  expectation  of 
the  day  when  the  promise  would  be  fulfilled  ?  For,  after 
all,  their  reward  was  not  the  testimony  of  Scripture,  but 
their  own  perfection.  Now  this  perfection  is  described 
throughout  the  Epistle  as  a  priestly  consecration. 
It  expresses  fitness  for  entering  into  immediate  com- 
munion with  God.  This  was  the  final  fulfilment  of  the 
promise.  This  was  the  blessing  which  the  saints  under 
the  old  covenant  had  not  obtained.  The  way  of  the 
holiest  had  not  yet  been  opened.*  Consequently  their 
faith  consisted  essentially  in  endurance.  "  None  of 
these  received  the  promise,"  but  patiently  waited.  This 
is  inferred  concerning  them  from  the  testimony  of 
Scripture  that  they  believed.  Their  faith  must  have 
manifested  itself  in  this  form, — endurance.  To  us,  at 
length,  the  promise  has  been  fulfilled.     God  has  spoken 

*  Chap.  ix.  8. 


266  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS, 

unto  us  in  His  Son.  We  have  a  great  High-priest,  Who 
has  passed  through  the  heavens.  The  Son,  as  High- 
priest,  has  been  perfected  for  evermore  ;  that  is.  He  is 
endowed  with  fitness  to  enter  into  the  true  holiest 
place.  He  has  perfected  also  for  ever  them  that  are 
sanctified  :  freed  from  guilt  as  worshippers,  they  enter 
the  holiest  through  a  priestly  consecration.  The  new 
and  living  way  has  been  dedicated  through  the  veil. 
But  the  important  point  is  that  the  fulfilment  of  the 
V  promise  has  not  dispensed  with  the  necessity  for  faith. 
We  saw,  in  an  earlier  chapter,  that  the  revelation  of 
the  Sabbath  advances  from  lower  forms  of  rest  to 
higher  and  more  spiritual.  The  more  stubborn  the 
unbelief  of  men  became,  the  more  fully  the  revelation 
of  God's  promise  opened  up.  The  thought  is  some- 
what similar  in  the  present  passage.  The  final  form. 
which  God's  promise  assumes  is  an  advance  on  any 
fulfilment  vouchsafed  to  the  saints  of  the  old  covenant 
during  their  earthly  life.  It  now  includes  perfection, 
or  fitness  to  enter  into  the  hoHest  through  the  blood 
of  Christ.  It  means  immediate  communion  with  God. 
Far  from  dispensing  with  faith,  this  form  of  the 
promise  demands  the  exercise  of  a  still  better  faith 
than  the  fathers  had.  They  endured  by  faith ;  we 
through  faith  enter  the  holiest.  To  them,  as  well  as 
to  us,  faith  is  an  assurance  of  things  hoped  for  and  a 
proving  of  things  not  seen  ;    but  our  assurance  must 


xi.  20-xii.  I.]  A    CLOUD   OF   WITNESSES.  267 

incite  us  to  draw  near  with  boldness  unto  the  throne 
of  grace,  to  draw  near  with  a  true  heart  in  full  assur- 
ance of  faith.  This  is  the  better  faith  which  is  not 
once  ascribed  in  the  eleventh  chapter  to  the  saints  of 
the  Old  Testament.  On  the  contrary,  we  are  given  to 
understand  *  that  they,  through  fear  of  death,  were  all 
their  lifetime  subject  to  bondage.  But  Christ  has 
abolished  death.  For  we  enter  into  the  presence  of 
God,  not  through  death,  but  through  faith. 

In  accordance  with  this,  the  Apostle  says  that 
''  God  provided  some  better  thing  concerning  us."  t 
These  words  cannot  mean  that  God  provided  some 
better  thing  for  us  than  He  had  provided  for  the 
fathers.  Such  a  notion  would  not  be  true.  The 
promise  was  made  to  Abraham,  and  is  now  fulfilled 
to  all  the  heirs  alike ;  that  is,  to  those  who  are  of  the 
faith  of  Abraham.  The  author  says  "  concerning,"  % 
not  *'  for."  The  idea  is  that  God  foresaw  we  would, 
and  provided  (for  the  word  implies  both  things)  that 
we  should,  manifest  a  better  kind  of  faith  than  it  was 
possible  for  the  fathers  to  show,  better  in  so  far 
as  power  to  enter  the  holiest  place  is  better  than 
endurance. 

But  the  author  adds  another  thought.  Through 
the  exercise  of  the  better  faith  by  us,  the  fathers  also 

*  Chap.  ii.  15.  f  Chap.  xi.  40.  %  irepi. 


268  THE  EPISTLE   TO    THE  HEBREWS. 


enter  with  us  into  the  hoHest  place.  "Apart  from 
us  they  could  not  be  made  perfect."  The  priestly 
consecration  becomes  theirs  through  us.  Such  is  the 
unity  of  the  Church,  and  such  the  power  of  faith, 
that  those  who  could  not  believe,  or  could  not  believe 
in  a  certain  way,  for  themselves,  receive  the  fulness 
of  the  blessing  through  the  faith  of  others.  Nothing 
less  will  do  justice  to  the  Apostle's  words  than  the 
notion  that  the  saints  of  the  old  covenant  have, 
through  the  faith  of  the  Christian  Church,  entered 
into  more  immediate  and  intimate  communion  with 
God  than  they  had  before,  though  in  heaven. 

We  now  understand  why  they  take  so  deep  an 
interest  in  the  running  of  the  Christian  athletes  on 
earth.  They  surround  their  course,  like  a  great 
cloud.  They  know  that  they  will  enter  into  the 
holiest  if  we  win  the  race.  For  every  new  victory  of 
faith  on  earth,  there  is  a  new  revelation  of  God  in 
heaven.  Even  the  angels,  the  principalities  and 
powers  in  the  heavenly  places,  learn,  says  St.  Paul, 
through  the  Church  the  manifold  wisdom  of  God.* 
How  much  more  will  the  saints,  members  of  the 
Church,  brethren  of  Christ,  be  better  able  to  appre- 
hend the  love  and  power  of  God,  Who  makes  weak, 
sinful  men  conquerors  over  death  and  its  fear. 

*  Eph.  iii.  10. 


xi.  20-xii.  I.]         A    CLOUD    OF   li  ITNESSES.  269 

The  word  "  witnesses "  *  does  not  itself  refer  to 
their  looking  on,  as  spectators  of  the  race.  Another 
word  would  almost  certainly  have  been  used  to  express 
this  notion,  which  is  moreover  contained  in  the  phrase 
*' having  so  great  a  cloud  surrounding  f  us."  The 
thought  seems  to  be  that  the  men  to  whose  faith  the 
Spirit  of  Christ  in  Scripture  bare  witness  were  them- 
selves witnesses  for  God  in  a  godless  world,  in  the  same 
sense  in  which  Christ  tells  His  disciples  that  they 
were  His  witnesses,  and  Ananias  tells  Saul  that  he 
would  be  a  witness  for  Christ.  \  Every  one  who 
confessed  Christ  before  men,  him  did  Christ  also 
confess  before  His  Church  which  is  on  earth,  and 
does  now  confess  before  His  Father  in  heaven,  by 
leading  him  into  God's  immediate  presence. 

*  fiaprvpuv  (xii,  i).         f  xepiKetfJievov.         J  Acts  i.  8  j  xxii.  14. 


CONFLICT. 


"  By  faith  Isaac  blessed  Jacob  and  Esau,  even  concerning  things  to 
come.  By  faith  Jacob,  when  he  was  a-dying,  blessed  each  of  the  sons 
of  Joseph  ;  and  worshipped,  leaning  upon  the  top  of  his  staff.  By 
faith  Joseph,  when  his  end  was  nigh,  made  mention  of  the  departure  of 
the  children  of  Israel ;  and  gave  commandment  concerning  his  bones. 
...  By  faith  the  walls  of  Jericho  fell  down,  after  they  had  been 
compassed  about  for  seven  days.  By  faith  Rahab  the  harlot  perished 
not  with  them  that  were  disobedient,  having  received  the  spies  with 
peace.  And  what  shall  I  more  say  ?  for  the  time  will  fail  me  if  I  tell 
of  Gideon.  Barak,  Samson,  Jephthah  ;  of  David  and  Samuel  and  the 
prophets  :  who  through  faith  subdued  kingdoms,  wrought  righteousness, 
obtained  promises,  stopped  the  mouths  of  lions,  quenched  the  power  of 
fire,  escaped  the  edge  of  the  sword,  from  weakness  were  made  strong, 
waxed  mighty  in  war,  turned  to  flight  armies  of  aliens.  Women 
received  their  dead  by  a  resurrection  :  and  others  were  tortured,  not 
accepting  their  deliverance  ;  that  they  might  obtain  a  better  resurrec- 
tion :  and  others  had  trial  of  mockings  and  scourgings,  yea,  moreover 
of  bonds  and  imprisonment  :  they  were  stoned,  they  were  sawn  asunder, 
they  were  tempted,  they  were  slain  with  the  sword  :  they  went  about 
in  sheepskins,  in  goatskins  ;  being  destitute,  afflicted,  evil-entreated  (of 
whom  the  world  was  not  worthy),  wandering  in  deserts  and  mountains 
and  caves,  and  the  holes  of  the  earth.  And  these  all,  having  had  witness 
borne  to  them  through  their  faith,  received  not  the  promise,  God 
having  provided  some  better  thing  concerning  us,  that  apart  from  us  they 
should  not  be  made  perfect.  Therefore  let  us  also,  seeing  we  are  com- 
passed about  with  so  great  a  cloud  of  witnesses,  lay  aside  every  weight, 
and  the  sin  which  doth  so  easily  beset  us,  and  let  us  run  with  patience 
the  race  that  is  set  before  us." — Heb.  xi.  20 — xii.  i  (R.V.). 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

CONFLICT, 

npHE  author  has  told  his  readers  that  they  have 
^  need  of  endurance  ;  *  but  when  he  connects  this 
endurance  with  faith,  he  describes  faith^  not  as  an 
enduring  of  present  evils,  but  as  an  assurance  of  things 
hoped  for  in  the  future.  His  meaning  undoubtedly 
is  that  assurance  of  the  future  gives  strength  to  endure 
the  present.  These  are  two  distinct  aspects  of  faith. 
In  the  eleventh  chapter  both  sides  of  faith  are  illustrated 
in  the  long  catalogue  of  believers  under  the  Old 
Testament.  Examples  of  men  waiting  for  the  promise  / 
and  having  an  assurance  of  things  hoped  for  come 
first.  They  are  Abel,  Enoch,  Noah,  Abraham,  Isaac, 
Jacob,  and  Joseph.  In  some  measure  these  witnesses 
of  God  suffered  ;  but  the  more  prominent  feature  of  their 
faith  was  expectation  of  a  future  blessing.  Moses  is 
next  mentioned.  He  marks  a  transition.  In  him  the 
two  qualities  of  faith  appear  to  strive  for  the  pre- 
eminence.     He  chooses  to  be  evil  entreated  with  the 


viroixovT}  (x.  36). 

18 


274  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS. 

people  of  God,  because  he  knows  that  the  enjoyment 
of  sin  is  short-Hved ;  he  suffers  the  reproach  of  Christ, 
and  looks  away  from  it  to  the  recompense  of  reward. 
After  him  conflict  and  endurance  are  more  prominent 
in  the  history  of  believers  than  assurance  of  the  future. 
Many  of  these  later  heroes  of  faith  had  a  more  or  less 
dim  vision  of  the  unseen ;  and  in  the  case  of  those 
of  whose  faith  nothing  is  said  in  the  Old  Testament 
except  that  they  endured,  the  other  phase  of  this 
spiritual  power  is  not  wanting.  For  the  Church  is  one 
through  the  ages,  and  the  clear  eye  of  an  earlier  period 
cannot  be  disconnected  from  the  strong  arm  of  a  later 
time. 

In  the  twelfth  chapter  the  two  aspects  of  faith 
exemplified  in  the  saints  of  the  Old  Testament  are 
urged  on  the  Hebrew  Christians.  Now  practically  for 
the  first  time  in  the  Epistle  the  writer  addresses  himsell 
to  the  difficulties  and  discouragements  of  a  state  of 
conflict.  In  the  earlier  chapters  he  exhorted  his  readers 
to  hold  fast  their  own  individual,  confession  of  Christ. 
In  the  later  portions  he  exhorted  them  to  quicken  the 
faith  of  their  brethren  in  the  Church  assemblies.  But 
his  account  of  the  worthies  of  the  Old  Testament  in  the 
previous  chapter  has  revealed  a  special  adaptedness 
in  faith  to  meet  the  actual  condition  of  his  readers. 
We  gather  from  the  tenor  of  the  passage  that  the 
Church  had  to  contend  against  evil  men.     Who  they 


xii.  1-17.]  CONFLICT.  27$ 

were  we  do  not  know.  They  were  "  the  sinners." 
Our  author  is  claiming  for  the  Christian  Church  the 
right  to  speak  of  the  men  outside  in  the  language  used 
by  Jews  concerning  the  heathen  ;  and  it  is  not  at  all 
unlikely  that  the  unbelieving  Jews  themselves  are  here 
meant.  His  readers  had  to  endure  the  gainsaying  of 
sinners,  who  poured  contempt  on  Christianity,  as  they 
had  also  covered  Christ  Himself  with  shame.  The 
Church  might  have  to  resist  unto  blood  in  striving 
against  the  encompassing  sin.  Peace  is  to  be  sought 
and  followed  after  with  all  men,  but  not  to  the  injury 
of  that  sanctification  without  which  no  man  shall  see 
the  Lord.*  The  true  people  of  God  must  go  forth 
unto  Jesus  without  the  camp  of  Judaism,  bearing  His 
reproach,  t 

This  is  an  advance  in  the  thought.  Our  author  does 
not  exhort  his  readers  individually  to  steadfastness, 
nor  the  Church  collectively  to  mutual  oversight.  He 
has  before  his  eyes  the  conflict  of  the  Church  against 
wicked  men,  whether  in  sheep's  clothing  or  without  the 
fold.  The  purport  of  the  passage  may  be  thus  stated  : 
Faith  as  a  hope  of  the  future  is  a  faith  to  endure  in 
the  present  conflict  against  men.  The  reverse  of  this 
is  equally  true  and  important :  that  faith  as  a  strength 
to   endure   the   gainsaying   of  men   is   the    faith  that 

*  Chap.  xii.  14.  f  Chap.  xiii.  13. 


276  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS, 

presses  on  toward  the  goal  unto  the  prize  of  the  high 
calHng  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus. 

The  connecting  link  between  these  two  represen- 
tations of  faith  is  to  be  found  in  the  illustration  with 
which  the  chapter  opens.  A  race  implies  both  a  hope 
and  a  contest. 

The  hope  of  faith  is  simple  and  well  understood.  It 
has  been  made  abundantly  clear  in  the  Epistle.  It  is 
to  obtain  the  fulfilment  of  the  promise  made  to  Abraham 
and  renewed  to  other  believers  time  after  time  under 
the  old  covenant.  ''  For  we  who  believe  do  enter  into 
God's  rest."  *  "  They  that  have  been  called  receive  the 
promise  of  the  eternal  inheritance."!  "  We  have  bold- 
ness to  enter  into  the  holiest  by  the  blood  of  Jesus."  J 
In  the  latter  part  of  the  chapter  the  writer  speaks  of  his 
readers  as  having  already  attained.  They  have  come 
to  God,  and  to  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect, 
and  to  Jesus,  the  Mediator  of  the  new  covenant.  In 
the  first  verse  he  urges  them  to  run  the  race,  so  as 
to  secure  for  themselves  the  blessing.  He  points  them 
to  Jesus,  Who  has  run  the  race  before  them  and  won 
the  crown,  Who  sits  on  the  right  hand  of  God,  with 
authority  to  reward  all  who  reach  the  goal.  Both 
representations  are  perfectly  consistent.  Men  do  enter 
into  immediate  communion  with  God  on  earth ;  but 
they  attain  it  by  effort  of  faith. 

*  Chap.  iv.  3.  t  Chap.  ix.  15.  %  Chap.  x.  19. 


xii.  I- 1 7.]  CONFLICT.  277 

Such  is  the  aim  of  faith.  The  conflict  is  more 
complex  and  difficult  to  explain.  There  is,  first  of  all, 
a  conflict  in  the  preparatory  training,  and  this  is 
twofold.  We  have  to  strive  against  ourselves  and 
against  the  world.  We  must  put  away  our  own 
grossness,*  as  athletes  rid  themselves  by  severe 
training  of  all  superfluous  flesh.  Then  we  must  also 
put  away  from  us  the  sin  that  surrounds  us,  that  quite 
besets  us,  on  all  sides,!  whether  in  the  world  or  in 
the  Church,  as  runners  must  have  the  course  cleared 
and  the  crowd  of  onlookers  that  press  around  removed 
far  enough  to  give  them  the  sense  of  breathing  freely 
and  running  unimpeded  in  a  large  space.  The  word 
**  besetting  "  does  not  refer  to  the  special  sin  to  which 
every  individual  is  most  prone.  No  thoughtful  man 
but  has  felt  himself  encompassed  by  sin,  not  merely 
as  a  temptation,  but  much  more  as  an  overpowering 
force,  silent,  passive,  closing  in  upon  him  on  all  sides, — 
a  constant  pressure  from  which  there  is  no  escape. 
The  sin  and  misery  of  the  world  has  staggered  reason 
and  left  mien  utterly  powerless  to  resist  or  to  alleviate 
the  infinite  evil.  Faith  alone  surmounts  these  prehmi- 
nary  difficulties  of  the  Christian  life.  Faith  delivers 
su  from  grossness  fo  spirit,  from  lethargy,  earthliness 
stupor.       Faith    will    also    lift    us    above    the    terrible 

*  i'^KOv  (xii.  l).  t  evireplcTTaTov. 


278  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS. 

pressure  of  the  world's  sin.  Faith  has  the  heart  that 
still  hopes,  and  the  hand  that  still  saves.  Faith 
resolutely  puts  away  from  her  whatever  threatens  to 
overwhelm  and  impede,  and  makes  for  herself  a  large 
room  to  move  freely  in. 

Then  comes  the  actual  contest.  Our  author  says 
*'  contest."  *  For  the  conflict  is  against  evil  men. 
Yet  it  is,  in  a  true  and  vital  sense,  not  a  contest  of 
the  kind  which  the  word  naturally  suggests.  Here 
the  effort  is  not  to  be  first  at  the  goal.  We  run  the 
race  *'  through  endurance."  Mental  suffering  is  of  the 
essence  of  the  conflict.  Our  success  in  winning  the 
prize  does  not  mean  the  failure  of  others.  The  failure 
of  our  rivals  does  not  imply  that  we  attain  the  mark. 
In  fact,  the  Christian  life  is  not  the  competition  of 
rivals,  but  the  enduring  of  shame  at  the  hands  of  evil 
men,  which  endurance  is  a  discipHne.  Maybe  we  do 
not  sufficiently  lay  to  heart  that  the  discipline  of  life 
consists  mainly  in  overcoming  rightly  and  well  the 
antagonism  of  men.  The  one  bitterness  in  the  Hfe 
of  our  Lord  Himself  was  the  malice  of  the  wicked. 
Apart  from  that  unrelenting  hatred  we  may  regard 
His  short  life  as  serenely  happy.  The  warning  which 
He  addressed  to  His  disciples  was  that  they  should 
beware  of  men.     But,  though  wisdom  is  necessary,  the 


d^wya. 


xii.  I -1 7.]  CONFLICT.  279 

conflict  must  not  be  shunned.  When  it  is  over, 
nothing  will  more  astonish  the  man  of  faith  than  that 
he  should  have  been  afraid,  so  weak  did  malice  prove 
to  be. 

To  run  our  course  successfully,  we  must  keep  our 
eyes  steadily  fixed  on  Jesus. ''^  It  is  true  we  are  com- 
passed about  with  a  cloud  of  God's  faithful  witnesses. 
But  they  are  a  cloud.  The  word  signifies  not  merely 
that  they  are  a  large  multitude,  but  also  that  we  cannot 
distinguish  individuals  in  the  immense  gathering  of 
those  who  have  gone  before.  The  Church  has  always 
cherished  a  hope  that  the  saints  of  heaven  are  near  us, 
perhaps  seeing  our  efforts  to  follow  their  glorious 
example.  Beyond  this  we  dare  not  go.  Personal 
communion  is  possible  to  the  believer  on  earth  with 
One  only  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  spiritual  world. 
That  One  is  Jesus  Christ.  Even  faith  cannot  discern 
the  individual  saints  that  compose  the  cloud.  But  it 
can  look  away  from  all  of  them  to  Jesus.  It  looks  unto 
Jesus  as  He  is  and  as  He  was :  as  He  is  for  help ;  as 
He  was  for  a  perfect  example. 

I.  Faith  regards  Jesus  as  He  is, — the  "  Leader  and 
Perfecter."  The  words  are  an  allusion  to  what  the 
writer  has  already  told  us  in  the  Epistle  concerning 
Jesus.     He  is  "  the  Captain  or  Leader  of  our  salvation,"! 

*  Chap.  xii.  2.  t  dpx'?7(5»'  (ii-  10). 


28o  THE  EPISTLE    TO    THE  HEBREWS. 

and  "  by  one  offering  He  hath  perfected  for  ever  them 
that  are  sanctified."  *  He  leads  onward  our  faith  till 
we  attain  the  goal,  and  for  every  advance  we  make  in 
the  course  He  strengthens,  sustains,  and  in  the  end 
completes  our  faith.  The  runner,  when  he  seizes  the 
crown,  will  not  be  found  to  have  been  exhausted  by 
his  efforts.  High  attainments  demand  a  correspond- 
mgly  great  faith. 

Many  expositors  think  the  words  which  we  have 
rendered  "Leader"  and  "Perfecter"  refer  to  Christ's 
own  faith.  But  the  words  will  hardly  admit  of  this 
meaning.  Others  think  they  are  intended  to  convey 
the  notion  that  Christ  is  the  Author  of  our  faith  in  its 
weak  beginnings  and  the  Finisher  of  it  when  it  attains 
perfection.  But  the  use  which  the  Apostle  has  made 
of  the  words  "  Leader  of  salvation  "  in  chap.  ii.  seems  to 
prove  that  here  also  he  understands  by  "  Leader  "  One 
Who  will  bring  our  faith  onward  safely  to  the  end  of 
the  course.  The  distinction  is  rather  between  render- 
ing us  certain  of  winning  the  crown  and  making  our 
faith  large  and  noble  enough  to  be  worthy  of  wearing 
it. 

2.  Faith  regards  Jesus  as  He  was  on  earth,  the 
perfect  example  of  victory  through  endurance.  He 
has  acquired  His  power  to  lead  onward  and  to  make 

*  TereXei'w/cej'  (x.    14). 


xii.  I- 1 7.]  CONFLICT,  281 

perfect  our  faith  by  His  own  exercise  of  faith.  He  is 
^'Leader"  because  He  is  "Forerunner;"*  He  is 
"Perfecter"  because  He  Himself  has  been  perfected. t 
He  endured  a  cross.  The  author  leaves  it  to  his 
readers  to  imagine  all  that  is  implied  in  the  awful  word. 
More  is  involved  in  the  Cross  than  shame.  For  the 
shame  of  the  Cross  He  could  afford  to  despise.  But 
there  was  in  the  Cross  what  He  did  not  despise ;  yea, 
what  drew  tears  and  strong  cries  from  Him  in  the 
agony  of  His  soul.  Concerning  this,  whatever  it  was, 
the  author  is  here  silent,  because  it  was  peculiar  to 
Christ,  and  could  never  become  an  example  to  others, 
except  indeed  in  the  faith  that  enabled  Him  to  endure  it. 
Even  in  the  gainsaying  of  men  there  was  an  element 
which  He  did  not  despise,  but  endured.  He  under- 
stood that  their  gainsaying  was  against  themselves.f 
It  would  end,  not  merely  in  putting  Him  to  an  open 
shame,  but  in  their  own  destruction.  This  caused  keen 
suffering  to  His  holy  and  loving  spirit.  But  He  endured 
it,  as  He  endured  the  Cross  itself  in  all  its  mysterious 
import.  He  did  not  permit  the  sin  and  perdition  of 
the  world  to  overwhelm  Him.  His  faith  resolutely 
put  away  from  Him  the  deadly  pressure.  On  the  one 
hand.  He  did  not  despise  sin;  on  the  other.  He  was 
not  crushed  by  its  weight.     He  calmly  endured. 

*  irpobpofios  (vi.   20).  f  TereXeiufji^vov  (vii.  28). 

X  Reading  els  iavrovs  (xii.  3). 


282  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS. 

But  He  endured  through  faith,  as  an  assurance  of 
things  hoped  for  and  the  proving  of  things  not  seen. 
He  hoped  to  attain  the  joy  which  was  set  before  Him 
as  the  prize  to  be  won.  The  connection  of  the  thought 
with  the  general  subject  of  the  whole  passage  satisfies  us 
that  the  words  translated  **  for  the  joy  set  before  Him  " 
are  correctly  so  rendered,  and  do  not  mean  that  Christ 
chose  the  suffering  and  shame  of  the  Cross  in  prefer- 
ence to  the  enjoyment  of  sin  This  also  is  perfectly 
true,  and  more  true  of  Christ  than  it  was  even  of 
Moses.  But  the  Apostle's  main  idea  throughout  is  that 
faith  in  the  form  of  assurance  and  faith  in  the  form 
of  enduring  go  together.  Jesus  endured  because  He 
looked  for  a  future  joy  as  His  recompense  of  reward ; 
He  attained  the  joy  through  His  endurance. 

But,  as  more  than  shame  was  involved  in  His  Cross, 
more  also  than  joy  was  reserved  for  Him  in  reward. 
Through  His  Cross  He  became  '^  the  Leader  and  Per- 
fecter  "  of  our  faith.  He  was  exalted  to  be  the  Sancti- 
fier  of  His  people.  *'He  has  sat  down  on  the  right 
hand  of  God." 

Our  author  proceeds :  Weigh  this  in  the  balance.* 
Compare  this  quality  of  faith  with  your  own.  Consider 
who  He  was  and  what  you  are.  When  you  have  well 
understood  the  difference,  remember  that  He  endured, 

*  avoKorytoaffde  (xii.  3). 


xii.  1-17.]  CONFLICT.  283 

as  you  endure,  by  faith.  He  put  His  trust  in  God.* 
He  was  faithful  to  Him  Who  had  constituted  Him  what 
He  became  through  His  assumption  of  flesh  and  blood,  f 
He  offered  prayers  and  supplications  to  Him  Who  was 
able  to  save  Him  out  of  death,  yet  piously  committed 
Himself  to  the  hands  of  God.  The  gainsaying  of  men 
brought  Him  to  the  bloody  death  of  the  Cross.  You 
also  are  marshalled  in  battle  array,  in  the  conflict 
against  the  sin  of  the  world.  But  the  Leader  only  has 
shed  His  blood — as  yet.  Your  hour  may  be  drawing 
nigh  !  Therefore  be  not  weary  in  striving  to  reach  the 
goal !  Faint  not  in  enduring  the  conflict !  The  two 
sides  of  faith  are  still  in  the  author's  thoughts. 

It  would  naturally  occur  to  the  readers  of  the  Epistle 
to  ask  why  they  might  not  end  their  difficulties  by 
shunning  the  conflict.  Why  might  they  not  enter  into 
fellowship  with  God  without  coming  into  conflict  with 
men?  But  this  cannot  be.  Communion  with  God 
requires  personal  fitness  of  character,  and  manifests  it- 
self in  inward  peace.  This  fitness,  again,  is  the  result 
of  discipline,  and  the  discipline  implies  endurance.  *'It 
is  for  discipline  that  ye  endure."  % 

The  word  translated  "  discipline  "  suggests  the  notion 


*  Chap.  ii.  13. 
f  Chap.  iii.  2. 

\  els  iraideiav   virofJbiveTe  (xii.  7,  where   the  verb  is   indicative,  not 
imperative). 


284  THE  EPISTLE    TO    THE  HEBREWS. 

of  a  child  with  his  father.  But  it  is  noteworthy  that 
the  Apostle  does  not  use  the  word  ''  children "  in  his 
illustration,  but  the  word  ''sons."  This  was  occa- 
sioned partly  by  the  fact  that  the  citation  from  the 
Book  of  Proverbs  speaks  of  ''  sons."  But,  in  addition 
to  this,  the  author's  mind  seems  to  be  still  lingering 
with  the  remembrance  of  Him  Who  was  Son  of  God. 
For  discipline  is  the  lot  and  privilege  of  all  sons.  Who 
is  a  son  whom  his  father  does  not  discipline  ?  There 
might  have  been  One.  But  even  He  humbled  Himself 
to  learn  obedience  through  sufferings.  Absolutely 
every  son  undergoes  discipline. 

Furthermore,  the  fathers  of  our  bodies  kept  us  under 
discipline,  and  we  not  only  submitted,  but  even  gave 
them  reverence,  though  their  discipline  was  not  intended 
to  have  effect  for  more  than  the  few  days  of  our  pupil- 
age, and  though  in  that  short  time  they  were  liable  to 
error  in  their  treatment  of  us.  How  much  more  shall 
we  subject  ourselves  to  the  discipline  of  God  !  He  is 
not  only  the  God  of  all  spirits  and  of  all  flesh,*  but  also 
the  Father  of  our  spirits  ;  that  is,  He  has  created  our 
spirit  after  His  own  likeness,  and  made  it  capable, 
through  discipline,  of  partaking  in  His  own  holiness, 
which  will  be  our  true  and  everlasting  life.  The 
gardener  breaks  the  hard  ground,  uproots  weeds,  lops 

*  Num.  xvi.  22. 


xii.  1-17.]  CONFLICT.  285 

off  branches ;  but  the  consequence  of  his  rough 
treatment  is  that  the  fruit  at  last  hangs  on  the  bough. 
We  are  God's  tillage.  Our  conflict  with  men  and  their 
sin  is  watched  and  guided  by  a  Father.  The  fruit 
consists  in  the  calm  after  the  storm,  the  peace  of  a 
good  conscience,  the  silencing  of  accusers,  the  putting 
wicked  men  to  shame,  the  reverence  which  righteous- 
ness extorts  even  from  enemies.  In  the  same  book 
from  which  our  author  has  cited  far-reaching  instruc- 
tion, we  are  told  that  ^*  when  a  man's  ways  please  the 
Lord,  He  maketh  even  his  enemies  to  be  at  peace  with 
him."  * 

Here,  again,  the  Apostle  addresses  his  readers  as 
members  of  the  Church  in  its  conflict  with  men.  He 
tells  them  that,  in  doing  what  is  incumbent  upon  them 
as  a  Church  towards  different  classes  of  men,  they 
secure  for  themselves  individually  the  discipline  of  sons 
and  may  hope  to  reap  the  fruit  of  that  discipline  in 
peace  and  righteousness.  The  Church  has  a  duty  to 
perform  towards  the  weaker  brethren,  towards  the 
enemy  at  the  gate,  and  towards  the  Esaus  whose 
worldliness  imperils  the  purity  of  others. 

I.  There  were  among  them  weaker  brethren,  the 
nerves  of  whose  hands  and  knees  were  unstrung.  They 
could  neither  combat  a  foe  nor  run  the  race.     It  was  for 

*  Prov.  xvL  7. 


286  THE  EPISTLE    TO   THE  HEBREWS. 

the  Church  to  smooth  the  ruggedness  of  the  road  before 
its  feet,  that  the  lame  things  *  (for  so,  with  something 
of  contempt,  he  names  the  waverers)  might  not  be 
turned  out  of  the  course  by  the  pressure  of  the  other 
runners.  Rather  than  permit  this,  let  the  Church  Hft 
up  their  drooping  hands  and  sustain  their  palsied  knees, 
that  they  may  be  healed  of  their  lameness. 

2.  As  to  enemies  and  persecutors,  it  is  the  duty  of  the 
Church  to  follow  after  peace  with  all  men,  as  much  as 
in  her  lies.  Christians  may  sacrifice  almost  anything 
for  peace,  but  not  their  own  priestly  consecration, 
without  which  no  man  shall  see  the  Lord  Jesus  at  His 
appearing.  He  will  be  seen  only  by  those  who  eagerly 
expect  Him  unto  salvation.! 

3.  The  consecration  of  the  Church  is  maintained 
by  watchfulness  J  against  every  tendency  to  alienation 
from  the  grace  of  God,  to  bitterness  against  God  and 
the  brethren,  to  sensuality  and  profane  worldliness. 
All  must  watch  over  themselves  and  over  all  the 
brethren.  The  danger,  too,  increases  if  it  is  neglected. 
It  begins  in  withdrawing  from  §  the  Church  assembHes, 
where  the  influences  of  grace  are  manifested.  It  grows 
into  the  poisonous  plant  of  a  bitter  spirit,  which,  ''like 
a   root    that   beareth    gall    and   wormwood,"    spreads 


*  TO  xwXdy  (xii,  13),  X  iTTKrirKoirovvTes  (xii.  15), 

t  Chap.  ix.  28,  §  vaTepwv  dir6. 


xii.  1. 17.]  CONFLICT,  287 

through  '^  a  family  or  tribe,"*  and  turns  away  their 
heart  from  the  Lord  to  go  and  serve  the  gods  of  the 
nations.  ''The  many  are  defiled."  The  Church  as  a 
whole  becomes  infected.  But  bitterness  of  spirit  is  not 
the  only  fruit  of  selfishness.  On  the  same  tree 
sensuality  grows,  which  God  will  punish  when  the 
Church  cannot  detect  its  presence.! 

From  the  stem  of  selfishness,  which  will  not  brook 
the  restraints  of  Church  communion,  springs,  last  and 
most  dangerous  of  all,  the  profane,  worldly  spirit, 
which  denies  and  mocks  the  very  idea  of  consecration. 
It  is  the  spirit  of  Esau,  who  bartered  the  right  of  the 
first-born  to  the  promise  of  the  covenant  for  one  mess 
of  pottage.  The  author  calls  attention  to  the  incident, 
as  it  displays  Esau's  contempt  of  the  promise  made  to 
Abraham  and  his  own  father  Isaac.  His  thoughts 
never  rose  above  the  earth.  "  What  profit  shall  this 
birthright  do  to  me  ?"{  We  must  distinguish  between 
the  birthright  and  the  blessing.  The  former  carried 
with  it  the  great  promise  given  to  Abraham  with  an 
oath  on  Moriah :  ''  In  thy  seed  shall  all  the  nations 
of  the  earth  be  blessed."  §  Possession  of  it  did  not 
depend  on  Isaac's  fond  blessing.  It  belonged  to  Esau 
by  right  of  birth  till  he  sold  it  to  Jacob.  But  Isaac's 
blessing)  which  he  intended  for  Esau  because  he  loved 

*  Deut.  xxix.  18.  X  Gen.  xxv.  32. 

t  Chap.  xiii.  4.     Cf.  Rom.  i.  18  sqq.  §  Gen.  xxii.  1 8. 


288  THE   EPISTLE    TO    THE  HEBREWS. 

him,  meant  more  especially  lordship  over  his  brethren. 
Esau  plainly  distinguishes  the  two  things  :  '^  Is  not  he 
rightly  named  Jacob  ?  For  he  hath  supplanted  me 
these  two  times :  he  took  away  my  birthright,  and 
behold,  now  he  hath  taken  away  my  blessing."*  When 
he  found  that  Jacob  had  supplanted  him  a  second  time, 
he  cried  with  a  great  and  exceeding  bitter  cry,  and 
sought  diligently,  not  the  birthright,  which  was  of  a 
religious  nature,  but  the  dew  of  heaven,  and  the  fatness 
of  the  earth,  and  plenty  of  corn  and  wine,  and  the 
homage  of  his  mother's  sons.  But  he  had  sold  the 
greater  good  and,  by  doing  so,  forfeited  the  lesser. 
The  Apostle  recognises,  beyond  the  subtilty  of  Jacob 
and  behind  the  blessing  of  Isaac,  the  Divine  retribution. 
His  selHng  the  birthright  was  not  the  merely  rash  act 
of  a  sorely  tempted  youth.  He  continued  to  despise 
the  covenant.  When  he  was  forty  years  old,  he  took 
wives  of  the  daughters  of  the  Canaanites.  Abraham 
had  made  his  servant  swear  that  he  would  go  to  the 
city  of  Nahor  to  take  a  wife  unto  Isaac ;  and  Rebekah, 
true  to  the  instinct  of  faith,  was  weary  of  her  life 
because  of  the  daughters  of  Heth.  But  Esau  cared  for 
none  of  these  things.  The  day  on  which  Jacob  took 
away  the  blessing  marks  the  crisis  in  Esau's  Hfe.  He 
still  despised  the  covenant  and   sought  only  worldly 

*  Gen.  xxvii.  36. 


xii.  I- 1 7.]  CONFLICT.  289 

lordship  and  plenty.  For  this  profane  scorn  of  the 
spiritual  promise  made  to  Abraham  and  Isaac,  Esau  not 
only  lost  the  blessing  which  he  sought,  but  was  him- 
self rejected.  The  Apostle  reminds  his  readers  that 
they  know  it  to  have  been  so  from  Esau's  subsequent 
history.  They  would  not  fail  to  see  in  him  an  example 
of  the  terrible  doom  described  by  the  Apostle  himself 
in  a  previous  chapter.  Esau  was  like  the  earth  that 
brings  forth  thorns  and  thistles  and  is  "rejected."* 
The  grace  of  repentance  was  denied  him.f 

♦  ddiKiy.Q$  (vi.  8)«  f  Chap.  vi.  6, 


'     \ 


MOUNT  ZION, 


**  For  ye  are  not  come  unto  a  mount  that  might  be  touched,  and  that 
burned  with  fire,  and  unto  blackness,  and  darkness,  and  tempest,  and 
the  sound  of  a  trumpet,  and  the  voice  of  words  ;  which  voice  they  that 
heard  entreated  that  no  word  more  should  be  spoken  unto  them  :  for 
they  could  not  endure  that  which  was  enjoined,  If  even  a  beast  touch 
the  mountain,  it  shall  be  stoned  ;  and  so  fearful  was  the  appearance, 
that  Moses  said,  I  exceedingly  fear  and  quake  :  but  ye  are  come  unto 
Mount  Zion,  and  unto  the  city  of  the  living  God,  the  heavenly  Jerusalem, 
and  to  innumerable  hosts  of  angels,  to  the  general  assembly  and  Church 
of  the  first-born  who  are  enrolled  in  heaven,  and  to  God  the  Judge 
of  all,  and  to  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect,  and  to  Jesus  the 
Mediator  of  a  new  covenant,  and  to  the  blood  of  sprinkling  that  speaketh 
better  than  that  of  Abel.  See  that  ye  refuse  not  Him  that  speaketh. 
For  if  they  escaped  not,  when  they  refused  him  that  warned  them  on 
earth,  much  more  shall  not  we  escape,  who  turn  away  from  Him  that 
warneth  from  heaven  :  whose  voice  then  shook  the  earth  :  but  now  He 
hath  promised,  saying.  Yet  once  more  will  I  make  to  tremble  not  the 
earth  only,  but  also  the  heaven.  And  this  word,  Yet  once  more, 
signifieth  the  removing  of  those  things  that  are  shaken,  as  of  things  that 
have  been  made,  that  those  things  which  are  not  shaken  may  remain. 
Wherefore,  receiving  a  kingdom  that  cannot  be  shaken,  let  us  have  grace, 
whereby  we  may  offer  service  well-pleasing  to  God  with  reverence  and 
awe  .  for  our  God  is  a  consuming  fire." — Heb.  xii.  i8 — 29  (R.V.). 


CHAPTER  XV. 

MOUNT  ZION. 

1\  /r  UTUAL  oversight  is  the  lesson  of  the  foregoing 
^^ ^  verses.  The  author  urges  his  readers  to  look 
carefully  that  no  member  of  the  Church  withdraws  from 
the  grace  of  God,  that  no  poison  of  bitterness  troubles 
and  defiles  the  Church  as  a  whole,  that  sensuality  and 
worldliness  are  put  away.  In  the  paragraph  that 
comes  next  he  still  has  the  idea  of  Church  fellowship 
in  his  mind.  But  his  advice  to  his  readers  to  exercise 
supervision  over  one  another  yields  to  the  still  more 
urgent  warning  to  watch  themselves,  and  especially  to 
shun  the  most  dangerous  even  of  these  evils,  which  is 
worldliness  of  spirit.  Esau  was  rejected  ;  see  that  ye 
yourselves  refuse  not  Him  that  speaketh. 

That  the  passage  is  thus  closely  connected  with  what 
immediately  precedes  may  be  admitted.  But  it  must  be 
also  connected  with  the  entire  argument  of  the  Epistle. 
It  is  the  final  exhortation  directly  based  on  the  general 
idea  that  the  new  covenant  excels  the  former  one. 
As  such  it  may  be  compared  with  the  earlier  exhorta- 


294  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS. 

tion,  given  before  the  allegory  of  Melchizedek  introduced 
the  notion  that  the  old  covenant  had  passed  away,  and 
with  the  warning  in  the  tenth  chapter  which  precedes 
the  glorious  record  of  faith's  heroes  from  Abel  to  Jesus. 
As  early  as  the  second  chapter  he  warns  the  Hebrew 
Christians  not  to  drift  away  and  neglect  a  salvation 
revealed  in  One  Who  is  greater  than  the  angels,  through 
whom  the  Law  had  been  given.  In  the  later  exhorta- 
tions he  adds  the  notion  of  the  blood  of  the  covenant, 
and  insists,  not  merely  on  the  greatness,  but  also  on 
the  finality,  of  the  revelation.  But  in  the  concluding 
passage,  which  now  opens  before  us,  he  makes  the 
daring  announcement  that  all  the  blessings  of  the  new 
covenant  have  already  been  fulfilled,  and  that  in  perfect 
completeness  and  grandeur.  We  have  come  unto 
Mount  Zion  ;  we  have  received  a  kingdom  which  cannot 
be  shaken.  The  passage  must,  therefore,  be  considered 
as  the  practical  result  of  the  whole  Epistle. 

Our  author  began  with  the  fact  of  a  revelation  of 
God  in  a  Son.  But  a  thoughtful  reader  will  not  fail 
to  have  observed  that  this  great  subject  seldom  comes  to 
the  front  in  the  course  of  the  argument.  Reading  the 
Epistle,  we  seem  for  a  time  to  forget  the  thought  of  a 
revelation  given  in  the  Son.  Our  minds  are  mastered  by 
the  author's  powerful  reasoning.  We  think  of  nothing 
but  the  surpassing  excellence  of  the  new  covenant  and 
its  Mediator.     The  greatness  of  Jesus  as  High-priest 


xii.  18-29.]  MOUNT  ZION.  295 

makes  us  oblivious  of  His  greatness  as  the  Revealer  of 
God.  But  this  is  only  the  glamour  cast  over  us  by 
a  master  mind.  After  all,  to  know  God  is  the  highest 
glory  and  perfection  of  man.  Apart  from  a  revelation 
of  God  in  His  Son,  all  other  truths  are  negative ;  and 
their  value  to  us  depends  on  their  connection  with  this 
self-manifestation  of  the  Father.  Religion,  theology, 
priesthood,  covenant,  atonement,  salvation,  and  the 
Incarnation  itself,  do  not  attain  a  worthy  and  final 
purpose  except  as  means  of  revealing  God.  It  would 
be  a  serious  misapprehension  to  suppose  that  our 
author  had  forgotten  this  fundamental  conception. 
His  aim  has  been  to  show  that  the  economy  of  the  new 
covenant  is  the  perfect  revelation.  God  has  spoken, 
not  through,  but  m,  the  Son.  The  Divine  personality, 
the  human  nature,  the  eternal  priesthood,  the  infinite 
sacrifice,  of  the  Son  are  the  final  revelation  of  God. 

In  the  sublime  contrast  between  Mount  Sinai  and 
Mount  Zion  the  two  thoughts  are  brought  together. 
We  have  had  frequent  occasion  to  point  out  that  the 
central  fact  of  the  new  covenant  is  direct  communion 
with  God.  Access  to  God  is  now  open  to  all  men  in 
Christ.  We  are  invited  to  draw  near  with  boldness 
unto  the  throne  of  grace. '•''  Jesus  has  entered  as  a 
Forerunner  for  us  within  the  veil.f     We  have  boldness 

*  Chap,  iv.  16.  t  Chap.  vi.  20. 


296  THE  EPISTLE    TO    THE  HEBREWS. 

to  enter  into  the  holiest  by  the  blood  of  Jesus.*  Yea, 
we  have  already  actually  entered.  We  are  come  unto 
Mount  Zion.  Death  has  been  annihilated.  We  are 
now  where  Christ  is.  The  writer  of  our  Epistle  has 
advanced  beyond  the  perplexity  that,  in  his  hour  of 
lonehness,  troubled  St.  Paul,  who  was  in  a  strait  betwixt 
two,  having  a  desire  to  depart  and  be  with  Christ, 
which  is  far  better.f  We  are  come  to  Jesus,  the 
Mediator  of  the  new  covenant.  That  great  city  the 
heavenly  Jerusalem  has  descended  out  of  heaven  from 
God.  I  The  angels  pass  to  and  fro  as  ministering 
spirits.  The  names  of  the  first-born  are  registered  in 
heaven,  as  possessing  already  the  privilege  of  citizen- 
ship. We  must  not  say  that  the  spirits  of  the  righteous 
have  departed  from  us ;  let  us  rather  say  that  we,  by 
being  made  righteous,  have  come  to  them.  We  stand 
now  before  the  tribunal  of  God,  the  Judge  of  all.  Jesus 
has  fulfilled  His  promise  to  come  and  receive  us  unto 
Himself,  that  where  He  is,  there  we  may  be  also.§ 

All  these  things  are  contained  in  access  unto  God. 
The  Apostle  explains  their  meaning  and  unfolds  their 
glory  by  contrasting  them  with  the  revelation  of  God 
on  Sinai.  We  might  perhaps  have  expected  him  to 
institute  a  comparison  between  them  and  the  incidents 
of  the  day  of  atonement,  inasmuch  as  he  has  described 

*  Chap.  X.  19.  X  Rev.  xxi.   10. 

t  Phil.  i.  23.  §  John  xiv.  3. 


xii.  18-29.]  MOUNT  ZION.  29) 

Christ's  ascension  to  the  right  hand  of  God  as  the 
entering  of  the  High-priest  into  the  true  hoHest  place. 
But  the  day  of  atonement  was  not  a  revelation  of  God. 
The  propitiation  required  antecedently  to  a  revelation 
was  indeed  offered.  But,  as  the  propitiation  was  unreal, 
the  full  revelation,  to  which  it  was  intended  to  lead,  was 
never  given.  Nothing  is  said  in  the  books  of  Moses 
concerning  the  people's  state  of  mind  during  the  time 
when  the  high-priest  stood  in  God's  presence.  The 
transaction  was  so  purely  ceremonial  that  the  people 
do  not  seem  to  have  taken  any  part  in  it,  beyond 
gathering  perhaps  around  the  tabernacle  to  witness 
the  ingress  and  egress  of  the  high-priest.  More- 
over, no  words  were  spoken  either  by  the  high-priest 
before  God,  or  by  God  to  the  high-priest  or  to  the 
people.  No  prayer  was  uttered,  no  revelation  vouch- 
safed. For  these  reasons  the  Apostle  goes  back  to  the 
revelation  on  Sinai,  which  indeed  instituted  the  rites 
of  the  covenant.  With  the  revelation  that  preceded 
the  sacrifices  of  the  Law  he  compares  the  revelation 
that  is  founded  upon  the  sacrifice  of  Christ.  This  is 
the  fundamental  difference  between  Sinai  and  Zion. 
The  revelation  on  Sinai  precedes  the  sacrifices  of  the 
tabernacle ;  the  revelation  on  Zion  follows  the  sacrifice 
of  the  Cross.  Under  the  old  covenant  the  revelation 
demanded  sacrifices ;  under  the  new  covenant  the 
sacrifice  demands  a  revelation. 


298  THE  EPISTLE    TO    THE  HEBREWS, 

From  this  essential  difference  in  the  nature  of  the 
revelations  a  twofold  contrast  is  apparent  in  the 
phenomena  of  Sinai  and  Zion.  Sinai  revealed  the 
terrible  side  of  God's  character,  Zion  the  peaceful 
tenderness  of  His  love.  The  revelation  on  Sinai  was 
earthly  ;  that  on  Zion  is  spiritual. 

There  can  be  no  question  that  the  Apostle  intends 
to  contrast  the  terrible  appearances  on  Sinai  with  the 
calm  serenity  of  Zion.  The  very  rhythm  of  his  language 
expresses  it.  But  the  key  to  his  description  of  the  one 
and  the  other  is  to  be  found  in  the  distinction  already 
mentioned.  On  Sinai  the  unappeased  wrath  of  God 
is  revealed.  Sacrifices  are  instituted,  which,  however, 
when  established,  evoke  no  response  from  the  offended 
majesty  of  Heaven.  Of  the  holiest  place  of  the  old 
covenant  the  best  thing  we  can  say  is  that  the  lightning 
and  thunders  of  Sinai  slumbered  therein.  The  author's 
beautiful  description  of  the  sunny  steep  of  Zion  is 
framed,  on  the  other  hand,  in  accordance  with  his 
frequent  and  emphatic  declaration  that  Christ  has 
entered  the  true  holiest  place,  having  obtained  for  us 
eternal  redemption.  All  that  the  Apostle  says  con- 
cerning Sinai  and  Zion  gathers  around  the  two 
conceptions  of  sin  and  forgiveness. 

The  Lord  spake  on  Sinai  out  of  the  midst  of  the 
palpable,  enkindled  fire,  of  the  cloud,  and  of  the  thick 
darkness,  with  a  great  voice.     All  the  people  heard  the 


xii.  18-29.]  MOUNT  ZION.  299 

voice.  They  saw  "  that  God  doth  talk  with  man,  and 
he  liveth."  They  begin  to  hope.  But  immediately 
they  bethink  them  that,  if  they  hear  the  voice  of  the 
Lord  any  more,  they  will  die.  Thus  does  a  guilty 
conscience  contradict  itself!  Again,  the  people  are 
invited  to  come  up  into  the  mount  when  the  trumpet 
shall  sound  long.  Yet,  when  the  voice  of  the  trumpet 
sounds  long  and  waxes  louder  and  louder,  they  are 
charged  not  to  come  up  unto  the  Lord,  lest  He  break 
forth  upon  them.  All  this  appearance  of  inconsistency 
is  intended  to  symbolize  that  the  people's  desire  to 
come  to  God  struggled  in  vain  against  their  sense 
of  guilt,  and  that  God's  purpose  of  revealing  Himself 
to  them  was  contending  in  vain  with  the  hindrances 
that  arose  from  their  sins.  The  whole  assembly  heard 
the  voice  of  the  Lord  proclaiming  the  Ten  Command- 
ments. Conscience-smitten,  they  could  not  endure  to 
hear  more.  They  gat  them  into  their  tents,  and  Moses 
alone  stood  on  the  mountain  with  God,  to  receive  at 
His  mouth  all  the  statutes  and  judgments  which  the}^ 
should  do  and  observe  in  the  land  which  He  would 
give  them  to  possess.  The  Apostle  singles  out  for 
remark  the  command  that,  if  a  beast  touched  the 
mountain,  it  should  be  stoned  to  death.  The  people, 
he  says,  could  not  endure  this  command.  Why  not 
this  ?  It  connected  the  terrors  of  Sinai  with  man's 
guilt.     According  to  the  Old  Testament  idea  of  Divine 


300  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS. 

retribution,  the  beasts  of  the  earth  f^ll  under  the  curse 
due  to  man.  When  God  saw  that  the  wickedness  of 
man  was  great  in  the  days  of  Noah,  He  said,  ^'  I  will 
destroy  both  man  and  beast."*  When,  again,  He 
blessed  Noah  after  the  waters  were  dried  up.  He  said, 
' '  I,  behold,  I  establish  My  covenant  with  you  and  with 
every  living  creature  that  is  with  you."  f  Similarly,  the 
command  to  put  to  death  any  beast  that  might  haply 
touch  the  mountain  revealed  to  the  people  that  God 
was  dealing  with  them  as  sinners.  Moses  himself, 
the  mediator  of  the  covenant,  who  aspired  to  behold 
the  glory  of  God,  feared  exceedingly.  But  his  fear 
came  upon  him  when  he  looked  and  beheld  that  the 
people  had  sinned  against  the  Lord  their  God  :|:  and 
made  them  a  molten  calf.  His  fear  was  not  the 
prostration  of  nervous  terror.  Remembering,  when 
he  had  descended,  the  awful  sights  and  sounds  wit- 
nessed on  the  mountain,  he  was  afraid  of  the  anger 
and  hot  displeasure  of  God  against  the  people,  who 
had  done  wickedly  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord,  Almost 
every  word  the  Apostle  has  here  written  bears  closely 
upon  the  moral  relation  between  a  guilty  people  and 
the  angry  God. 

If  we  turn  to  the  other  picture,  we  at  once  perceive 
that  the  thoughts  radiate  from  the  holiest  place  as  from 

♦  Gen.  vi.  7.  \  Gen.  ix.  9,  10.  J  Deut.  ix.  16,  19. 


xii.  18-29.]  MOUNT  ZION.  301 

a  centre.  The  passage  is,  in  fact,  an  expansion  of  what 
is  said  in  the  ninth  chapter,  that  Christ  has  entered  in 
once  for  all  into  the  holiest  place,  through  the  greater 
and  more  perfect  tabernacle.  The  holiest  has  widened 
its  boundaries.  The  veil  has  been  removed,  so  that 
the  entire  sanctuary  now  forms  part  of  the  holy  of 
holies.  It  is  true  that  the  Apostle  begins,  in  the 
passage  under  consideration,  not  with  the  hoHest  place, 
but  with  Mount  Zion.  He  does  so  because  the  imme- 
diate contrast  is  between  the  two  mountains,  and  he 
has  already  stated  that  Christ  entered  through  a  larger 
tabernacle.  The  holiest  place  includes,  therefore,  the 
whole  mountain  of  Zion,  on  which  the  tabernacle  was 
erected  ;  yea,  all  Jerusalem  is  within  the  precincts.  If 
we  extend  the  range  of  our  survey,  we  behold  the  earth 
sanctified  by  the  presence  of  the  first-born  sons  of  God, 
who  are  the  Church,  and  of  His  myriads,  the  other  sons 
of  God,  who  also  have,  not  indeed  the  birthright,  but 
a  blessing,  even  the  joyful  multitude  of  the  heavenly 
host.*  The  Apostle  describes  the  angels  as  keeping 
festal  holiday,  for  joy  to  witness  the  coming  of  the  first- 
born sons.     They  are  the  friends  of  the  Bridegroom, 

*  Reading  koX  ^vpidaiv,  arfyeXitsv  irauTjyvpei,  Kal  €KK\r](riq.TrpwT0T6KU)v 
(xii.  22,  23).  This  disconnected  use  of  fivpids  is  amply  justified  by 
Deut.  xxxiii.  2,  Dan.  vii.  10,  and  Jude  14.  Besides,  vau-qyvpis  is 
precisely  the  word  to  describe  the  assemblage  of  angels  and  distinguish 
them  from  the  Church. 


302  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS, 

who  Stand  and  hear  Him,  and  rejoice  greatly  because  of 
the  Bridegroom's  voice.  If,  again,  we  attempt  to  soar 
above  this  world  of  trials,  we  find  ourselves  at  once 
before  the  judgment-seat  of  God.  But  even  here  a 
change  has  taken  place.  For  we  are  come  to  a  Judge 
Who  is  God  of  all,*  and  not  merely  to  a  God  Who  is 
Judge  of  all.  Thus  the  promise  of  the  new  covenant 
has  been  fulfilled,  ''  I  will  be  to  them  a  God."  f  If  in 
imagination  we  pass  the  tribunal  and  consider  the  con- 
dition of  men  in  the  world  of  spirits,  we  recognise  there 
the  spirits  of  the  righteous  dead,  and  are  given  to  under- 
stand that  they  have  already  attained  the  perfection  % 
which  they  could  not  have  received  before  the  Christian 
Church  had  exercised  a  greater  faith  than  some  had 
found  possible  to  themselves  on  earth.  §  If  we  ascend 
still  higher,  we  are  in  the  presence  of  Jesus  Himself. 
But  He  is  on  the  right  hand  of  the  Majesty  on  high, 
not  simply  as  Son  of  God,  but  as  Mediator  of  the  new 
covenant.  His  blood  is  sprinkled  on  the  mercy-seat, 
and  speaks  to  God,  but  not  for  vengeance  on  those 
who  shed  it  on  the  Cross,  some  of  whom  possibly  were 
now  among  the  readers  of  the  Apostle's  piercing  words. 
What  an  immeasurable  distance  between  the  first  man 
of  faith,  mentioned  in  the  eleventh  chapter,  and  Jesus, 
with  Whom  his  list  closes  !     The  very  first  blood  of 

f  Chap.  viii.  lo.  §  Chap.  xi.  ao. 


xii.  18-29.]  MOUNT  ZION.  303 

man  shed  to  the  earth  cried  from  the  ground  to  God 
for  vengeance.  The  blood  of  Jesus  sprinkled  in  heaven 
speaks  a  better  thing.  What  the  better  thing  is,  we 
are  not  told.  Men  may  give  it  a  name;  but  it  is 
addressed  to  God,  and  God  alone  knows  its  infinite 
meaning. 

From  all  this  we  infer  that  the  comparison  here 
made  between  Sinai  and  Zion  is  intended  to  depict  the 
difference  (seen,  as  it  were,  in  another  Bunyan's  dream) 
between  a  revelation  given  before  Christ  offered  Him- 
self as  a  propitiation  for  sin  and  the  revelation  which 
God  gives  us  of  Himself  after  the  sacrifice  of  Christ 
has  been  presented  in  the  true  holiest  place. 

The  Apostle's  account  of  Mount  Zion  is  followed  by 
a  most  incisive  warning,  introduced  with  a  sudden 
solemnity,  as  if  the  thunder  of  Sinai  itself  were  heard 
remote.  The  passage  is  beset  with  difficulties,  some  of 
which  it  would  be  inconsistent  with  the  design  of  the 
present  volume  to  discuss.  One  question  has  scarcely 
been  touched  upon  by  the  expositors.  But  it  enters 
into  the  very  pith  of  the  subject.  The  exhortation 
which  the  author  addresses  to  his  readers  does  not  at 
first  appear  to  be  based  on  a  correct  application  of  the 
narrative.  For  the  Israelites  at  the  foot  of  Sinai  are 
not  said  to  have  refused  Him  that  spake  to  them  on  the 
mount.  No  doubt  God,  not  Moses,  is  meant ;  for  it 
was   the  voice   of  God   that   shook   the  earth.      The 


304  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS, 


people  were  terrified.  They  were  afraid  that  the  fire 
would  consume  them.  But  they  had  understood  also 
that  their  God  was  the  living  God,  and  therefore  not  to 
be  approached  by  man.  They  wished  Moses  to 
intervene,  not  because  they  rejected  God,  but  because 
they  acknowledged  the  awful  greatness  of  His  living 
personality.  Far  from  rejecting  Him,  they  said  to 
Moses,  "  Speak  thou  unto  us  all  that  the  Lord  our  God 
shall  speak  unto  thee  ;  and  we  will  hear  it  and  do  it."* 
God  Himself  commended  their  words  :  "  They  have 
well  said  all  that  they  have  spoken."  Can  we  suppf^  ie, 
therefore,  that  the  Apostle  in  the  present  passage 
represents  them  as  actually  rebelling,  and  "  refusing 
Him  that  spake  "  ?  The  word  here  translated  "  refuse  "f 
does  not  express  the  notion  of  rejecting  with  contempt. 
It  means  "  to  deprecate,"  to  shrink  in  fear  from  a 
person.  Again,  the  word  "escape,"  in  its  reference  to 
the  children  of  Israel  at  Sinai,  cannot  signify  "  to  avoid 
being  punished,"  which  is  its  meaning  in  the  second 
chapter  of  this  Epistle.J  The  meaning  is  that  they 
could  not  flee  from  His  presence,  though  Moses 
mediated  between  Him  and  the  people.  They  could 
not   escape    Him.     His    word    '' found  \   them"   when 


*  Dent-  V.  27.  28. 

j  irapaiTTjadfieyo!,  (xii.    25). 

J  Chap,  ii    3. 

§  "  The  Bible  finds  me,"  said  Coleridge. 


«ii.  18-29.]  MOUNT  ZION.  30s 


they  cowered  in  their  tents  as  truly  as  if  they  had 
dimbed  with  Moses  the  heights  of  Sinai.  For  the 
word  of  God  was  then  also  a  living  word,  and  there 
was  no  creature  that  was  not  manifest  in  His  sight; 
Yet  it  was  right  in  the  people  to  deprecate,  and  desire 
Moses  to  speak  to  them  rather  than  God.  This  was 
the  befitting  spirit  under  the  old  covenant.  It  expresses 
very  precisely  the  difference  between  the  bondage  of 
that  covenant  and  the  liberty  of  the  new.  In  Christ 
only  is  the  veil  taken  away.  Where  the  Spirit  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  is,  there  is  liberty.  But,  for  this  reason, 
what  was  praiseworthy  in  the  people  who  were  kept 
at  a  distance  from  the  bounds  placed  around  Sinai  is 
unworthy  and  censurable  in  those  who  have  come  to 
Mount  Zion.  See,  therefore,  that  ye  do  not  ask  Him 
that  speaketh  to  withdraw  into  the  thick  darkness  and 
terrible  silence.  For  us  to  deprecate  is  tantamount  to 
rejection  of  God.  We  are  actually  turning  away  from 
Him.  But  to  ignore  and  shun  His  presence  is  now 
impossible  to  us.  The  revelation  is  from  heaven.  He 
Who  brought  it  descended  Himself  from  above. 
Because  He  is  from  heaven,  the  Son  of  God  is  a  life- 
giving  Spirit.  He  surrounds  us,  like  the  ambient  air. 
The  sin  of  the  world  is  not  the  only  "  besetting " 
element  of  our  life.  The  ever-present,  besetting  God 
woos  our  spirit.  He  speaks.  That  His  words  are 
kind  and  forgiving  we  know.     For  He   speaks  to  u* 

20 


3o6  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS, 

from  heaven,  because  the  blood  sprinkled  in  heaven 
speaks  better  before  God  than  the  blood  of  Abel  spoke 
from  the  ground.  The  revelation  of  God  to  us  in  His 
Son  preceded,  it  is  true,  the  entrance  of  the  Son  into 
the  holiest  place ;  but  it  has  acquired  a  new  meaning 
and  a  new  force  in  virtue  of  the  Son's  appearing  before 
God  for  us.  This  new  force  of  the  revelation  is  re- 
presented by  the  mission  and  activity  of  the  Spirit. 

The  author's  thoughts  glide  almost  imperceptibly 
into  another  channel.  We  can  refuse  Him  that 
speaketh,  and  turn  away  from  Him  in  unbelief.  But 
let  us  beware.  It  is  the  final  revelation.  His  voice 
on  Sinai  shook  the  earth.  The  meaning  is  not  that  it 
terrified  the  people.  The  writer  has  passed  from  that 
thought.  He  now  speaks  of  the  effect  of  God's  voice 
on  the  material  world,  the  power  of  revelation  over 
created  nature.  This  is  a  truth  that  frequently  meets 
us  in  Scripture.  Revelation  is  accompanied  by  miracle. 
When  the  Ten  Commandments  were  spoken  by  the 
lips  of  God  to  the  people,  '*  the  whole  mount  quaked 
greatly."  *  But  the  prophet  Haggai  predicts  the  glory 
of  the  second  house  in  words  which  recall  to  our  author 
the  trembling  of  Mount  Sinai :  *'  For  thus  saith  the 
Lord  of  hosts :  Yet  once  more,  it  is  a  little  while,  and  I 
will  shake  the  heavens,  and  the  earth,  and  the  sea,  and 

*  Exod.  xix.  1 8.  In  his  citation  of  this  passage  our  author  forsakes 
the  Septuagint,  which  has  **  And  all  the  people  were  greatly  amazed." 


xii.  18-29.]  MOUNT  ZION.  307 


the  dry  land  ;  and  I  will  shake  all  nations,  and  the  desir- 
able things  of  all  nations  shall  come,  and  I  will  fiU  this 
house  with  glory,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts."*     It  is  very 
characteristic  of  the  writer  of  this  Epistle  to  fasten  on 
a  few  salient  points  in  the  prophet's  words.     He  seems 
to  think  that  Haggai  had  the  scenes  that  occurred  on 
Sinai   in   his   mind.      Two    expressions   connect    the 
narrative  in  Exodus  with  the  prophecy.     When   God 
spoke  on  Sinai,   His  voice  shook  the  earth.      Haggai 
declares  that  God  will,  at  some  future  time,  shake  the 
heaven.     Again,  the  prophet  has  used  the  words  "  yet 
once  more."     Therefore,  when  the  greater  glory  of  the 
second  house  will  have  come  to  pass,  the  last  shaking 
of  earth  and  of  heaven  will  take  place.     The  inference 
is    that   the   word    "yet    once    more"    signifieth    the 
removing  of  those  things  that  are  shaken.     The  whole 
fabric  of  nature  will  perish  in  its  present  material  form, 
and  the  Apostle  connects   this   universal   catastrophe 
with  the  revelation  of  God  in  His  Son. 

Many  very  excellent  expositors  think  that  our  author 
refers,  not  to  the  final  dissolution  of  nature,  but  to  the 
abrogation  of  the  Jewish  economy.  It  is  true  that  the 
Epistle  has  declared  the  old  covenant  a  thing  of  the 
past.  But  there  are  two  considerations  that  "lead  us 
to  adopt  the  other  view  of  this  passage.     In  the  first 


*  Haggai  ii.  6,  7. 


3o8  THE  EPISTLE    TO    THE  HEBREWS. 

place,  this  Epistle  does  not  describe  the  abrogation  of 
the  old  covenant  as  a  violent  catastrophe,  but  rather  as 
the  passing  away  of  what  had  grown  old  and  decayed. 
In  the  second  place,  the  coming  of  the  Lord  is  else- 
where, in  writings  of  that  age,  spoken  of  as  accompanied 
by  a  great  convulsion  of  nature.  The  two  notions  go 
together  in  the  thoughts  of  the  time.  ''  The  day  of  the 
Lord  will  come  as  a  thief,  in  the  which  the  heavens  shall 
pass  away  with  a  great  noise,  and  the  elements  shall  be 
dissolved  with  fervent  heat,  and  the  earth  and  the 
works  that  are  therein  shall  be  burned  up."* 

We  connect  the  words  "  as  things  that  have  been 
made  "  with  the  next  clause  :  "  that  those  things  which 
are  not  shaken  may  remain."  It  is  not  because  they 
have  been  made  that  the  earth  and  the  heaven  are 
removed ;  and  their  place  will  not  be  occupied  by 
uncreated  things  only,  but  also  by  things  made.  The 
meaning  is  that  nature  will  be  dissolved  when  it  has 
answered  its  purpose,  and  not  till  then.  Earth  and 
heaven  have  been  made,  not  for  their  own  sakes,  but 
in  order  that  out  of  them  a  new  world  may  be  created, 
which  will  never  be  removed  or  shaken.  This  new 
world  is  the  kingdom  of  which  the  King-Priest  is 
eternal  Monarch.!  As  we  partake  in  His  priesthood, 
we  share  also  in  His  kingship.  We  enter  into  the 
— — -^ __ . —  ■^ 

•  2  Pet.  iii.  10.  f  Chap.  xn.  28. 


xii.  18-29.]  MOUNT  ZION.  309 

holiest  place  and  stand  before  the  mercy-seat,  but  our 
absolution  is  announced  and  confirmed  to  us  by  the 
Divine  summons  to  sit  down  with  Christ  in  His  throne, 
as  He  has  sat  down  with  His  Father  in  His  throne.* 

Let  us  therefore  accept  the  kingdom.  But  beware 
of  your  peculiar  danger,  which  is  self-righteous  pride, 
worldliness,  ar.d  the  evil  heart  of  unbelief.  Rather  let 
us  seek  and  get  that  grace  from  God  which  will  make 
our  royal  state  a  humble  service  of  worshipping 
priests.t  The  grace  which  the  Apostle  exhorts  his 
reader  to  possess  is  much  more  than  thankfulness. 
It  includes  all  that  Christianity  bestows  to  counteract 
and  vanquish  the  special  dangers  of  self-righteousness. 
Such  priestly  service  will  be  well-pleasing  to  God. 
Offer  it  with  pious  resignation  to  His  sovereign  will, 
with  awe  in  the  presence  of  His  holiness.  For,  whilst 
our  God  proclaims  forgiveness  from  the  mercy-seat 
as  the  worshippers  stand  before  it,  He  is  also  a 
consuming  fire.  Upon  the  mercy-seat  itself  rests  the 
Shechinah. 

•  Rev.  iii.  21.  f  Xarpevw/jLev  (xiL  2^"i- 


SUNDR  Y  EXHOR  TA  TIONS, 


Hebrews  xiii. 

Let  love  of  the  brethren  continue.  Forget  not  to  shew  love  unto 
strangers  :  for  thereby  some  have  entertained  angels  unawares.  Re- 
member them  that  are  in  bonds,  as  bound  with  them  ;  them  that  are 
evil  entreated,  as  being  yourselves  also  in  the  body.  Let  marriage  be 
had  in  honour  among  all,  and  let  the  bed  be  undefiled  :  for  fornicators 
and  adulterers  God  will  judge.  Be  ye  free  from  the  love  of  money ; 
content  with  such  things  as  ye  have  :  for  Himself  hath  said,  I  will  in  no 
wise  fail  thee,  neither  will  I  in  any  wise  forsake  thee.  So  that  with 
good  courage  we  say, 

The  Lord  i^  my  helper  ;  I  will  not  fear  : 

"What  shall^iian  do  unto  me? 

Remember  them  that  had  the  rule  over  you,  which  spake  unto  you 
the  word  of  God  ;  and  considering  the  issue  of  their  life,  imitate  their 
faith.  Jesus  Christ  is  the  same  yesterday  and  to-day,  yea  and  for  ever. 
Be  not  carried  away  by  divers  and  strange  teachings  :  for  it  is  good  that 
the  heart  be  established  by  grace ;  not  by  meats,  wherein  they  that 
occupied  themselves  were  not  profited.  We  have  an  altar,  whereof 
they  have  no  right  to  eat  which  serve  the  tabernacle.  For  the  bodies 
of  those  beasts,  whose  blood  is  brought  into  the  holy  place  by  the  high 
priest  as  an  offering  for  sin,  are  burned  without  the  camp.  Where- 
fore Jesus  also,  that  He  might  sanctify  the  people  through  His  own 
blood,  suffered  without  the  gate.  Let  us  therefore  go  forth  unto  Him 
without  the  camp,  bearing  His  reproach.  For  we  have  not  here 
an  abiding  city,  but  we  seek  after  the  city  which  is  to  come. 
Through  Him  then  let  us  offer  up  a  sacrifice  of  praise  to  God  continually, 
that  is,  the  fruit  of  lips  which  make  confession  to  His  name.  But  to  do 
good  and  to  communicate  forget  not  :  for  with  such  sacrifices  God  is 
well  pleased.     Obey  them  that  have  the  rule  over  you,  and  submit  to 


them  :  for  they  watch  in  behalf  of  your  souls,  as  they  that  shall  give 
account  :  that  they  may  do  this  with  joy,  and  not  with  grief:  for  this 
were  unprofitable  for  you. 

Pray  for  us  :  for  we  are  persuaded  that  we  have  a  good  conscience, 
desiring  to  live  honestly  in  all  things.  And  I  exhort  you  the  more 
exceedingly  to  do  this,  that  I  may  be  restored  to  you  the  sooner. 

Now  the  God  of  peace,  who  brought  again  from  the  dead  the  great 
shepherd  of  the  sheep  with  the  blood  of  the  eternal  covenant,  even 
our  Lord  Jesus,  make  you  perfect  in  every  good  thing  to  do  His  will, 
working  in  us  that  which  is  well-pleasing  in  His  sight,  through  Jesus 
Christ ;  to  whom  be  the  glory  for  ever  and  ever.     Amen. 

But  I  exhort  you,  brethren,  bear  with  the  word  of  exhortation  :  for 
I  have  written  unto  you  in  few  words.  Know  ye  that  our  brother 
Timothy  hath  been  set  at  liberty  ;  with  whom  if  he  come  shortly,  I  will 
see  you. 

Salute  all  them  that  have  the  rule  over  you,  and  all  the  saints. 
They  of  Italy  salute  you. 

Grace  be  with  you  all.     Amen. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

SUNDRY  EXHORTATIONS, 

^  I  ^HE  condition  of  the  Hebrew  Christians  was  most 
-■■  serious.  But  one  excellence  is  acknowledged  to 
have  belonged  to  them.  It  was  almost  the  only  ground 
of  hope.  They  ministered  to  the  saints.*  Yet  even 
this  grace  was  in  peril.  In  a  previous  chapter  the 
writer  has  exhorted  them  to  call  to  remembrance  the 
former  days,  in  which  they  had  compassion  on  them 
that  were  in  bonds. f  But  he  considers  it  sufficient,  in 
reference  to  brotherly  love,  to  urge  them  to  see  that  it 
continues.  J  They  were  in  more  danger  of  forgetting  to 
show  kindness  to  their  brethren  of  other  Churches,  who, 
in  pursuance  of  the  liberty  of  prophesying  accorded  in 
Apostolic  times,  journeyed  from  place  to  place  for  the 
purpose  of  founding  new  Churches  or  of  imparting 
spiritual  gifts  to  Churches  already  established.  Besides, 
it  was  a  time  of  local  persecutions.  One  Church  might 
be  suffering,  and  its  members  might  take  refuge  in  a 
sister-Church.     Missionaries  and  persecuted   brethren 

*  Chap,  vi,   lo.  t  Chap.  x.  34.  %  Chap.  xiii.  i. 


3i6  THE  EPISTLE    TO    THE  HEBREWS. 

would  be  the  strangers  to  whom  the  enrolled  widows 
used  hospitality,  and  whose  feet  they  washed.*  We 
can  well  understand  why  in  that  age  a  bishop  would  be 
especially  expected  to  be  given  to  hospitality. f  Uhlhorn 
excellently  observes  that  "  the  greatness  of  the  age 
consisted  in  this  very  feature :  that  Christians  of  all 
places  knew  themselves  to  be  fraternally  one,  and  that 
in  this  oneness  all  differences  disappeared."!  In  the 
case  of  a  Church  consisting  of  Hebrews  the  duty  of 
entertaining  strangers,  many  of  them  necessarily  Greeks, 
would  be  peculiarly  apt  to  be  forgotten.  When  a  Church 
wavered  in  its  allegiance  to  Christianity,  the  alienation 
would  become  still  more  pronounced. 

The  constant  going  and  coming  of  missionary  brethren 
reminds  the  author  of  the  ministry  of  angels,  who  are 
like  the  swift  breezes,  and  carry  Christ's  messages  over 
the  face  of  the  earth.  §  Sometimes  they  are  as  a  flame 
of  fire.  When  they  were  on  their  way  to  destroy  the 
Cities  of  the  Plain,  Abraham  and  Lot  entertained  them, 
not  knowing  that  they  were  heaven-sent  ministers  of 
wrath. II  It  would  be  presumptuous  in  any  man  to  deny 
the  possibility   of  angeUc  visitations  in   the   Christian 


*  I  Tim.  V.  lo. 

•j-  I  Tim.  iii.  2. 

'X  Christian  Charity  in  the  Ancient  Church,  English  Trans.,  p.  93 

§  Chap.  i.   7. 

II  Gen.  xviii.  2  ;  xix.  i. 


xiii.  1-25.]  SUNDRY  EXHORTATIONS.  317 

Church  ;  but  the  Apostle's  meaning  is  not  that  hospi- 
taHty  ought  to  be  shown  to  strangers  in  the  hope  that 
angels  may  be  among  them.  They  are  to  be  received 
unawares ;  otherwise  the  fragrance  of  the  deed  is  gone. 
But  the  fact  remains,  and  has  been  proved  in  the  experi- 
ence of  many,  that  kindness  to  strangers,  be  they 
preaching  friars,  or  itinerant  exhorters,  or  persecuted 
outcasts,  brings  a  rich  blessing  to  children's  children. 
A  Syrian  builds  for  himself  a  hut  on  the  riverside,  and 
offers  to  carry  the  wayfarers  across  on  his  shoulders. 
One  day  a  child  asks  to  be  taken  over.  But  the  light 
burden  becomes  every  moment  heavier.  The  exhausted 
bearer  asks  in  astonishment,  '^Who  art  thou,  child?" 
It  was  Christ,  and  the  Syrian  was  named  the  Christ- 
bearer  in  remembrance  of  the  event.* 

The  next  exhortation  is  to  purity.  It  is  better  not 
to  attempt  to  connect  these  exhortations.  Their  special 
importance  in  the  case  of  the  Hebrew  Christians  is 
reason  enough  for  them.  Abstinence  from  marriage  is 
not  commended.  Our  author  is  not  an  Essene.  On 
the  contrary,  he  would  discourage  it.  "  Let  marriage 
be  held  in  honour  among  all  classes  of  men."  It  is  the 
Divinely  appointed  remedy  against  incontinence.  But 
in  the  married  state  itself  let  there  be  purity.     For  the 

*  The  legend  of  Christopher  is  beautifully  told  by  Oosterzee  at  the 
beginning  of  his  book  on  The  Person  and  Work  of  the  Redeemer^ 
English  Trans.  (Ed.  1886). 


3l8  THE  EPISTLE   TO    THE  HEBREWS. 

incontinent,  whether  in  the  bonds  of  wedlock  or  not, 
God's  direct,  providential  judgments  will  overtake. 

Then  follows  a  warning  against  love  of  money,  and 
the  Lord's  promise  not  to  fail  or  forsake  Joshua*  is 
appropriated  by  our  author  on  behalf  of  his  readers. 
Their  covetousness  arose  from  anxiety,  which  may  have 
been  occasioned  by  their  distressing  poverty  in  the 
days  of  Claudius,  t  That  the  advice  was  needed  shows 
the  precise  character  of  their  threatening  apostasy. 
Worldliness  was  at  the  root  of  their  Judaism.  It  is 
still  the  same.     The  self-righteous  do  not  hate  money. 

Let  them  imitate  the  trustfulness  of  their  great  leaders 
in  the  past,  who  had  not  given  their  time  and  thoughts 
to  heaping  up  riches,  but  had  devoted  themselves  to 
the  work  of  witnessing  and  of  speaking  the  word  of 
God.  Let  them  review  with  critical  eye  their  manner  of 
life,  and  observe  how  it  ended.  They  all  died  in  faith. 
Some  of  them  suffered  martyrdom,  so  complete  and 
entirely  unworldly  was  their  self-surrender  to  Jesus 
Christ !  But  Jesus  Christ  is  still  the  same  One.  If  He 
■was  worthy  that  Stephen  and  James  should  die  for  His 
sake,  He  is  worthy  of  our  allegiance  too.  Yea,  He  will 
be  the  same  for  ever.  When  the  world  has  passed 
away,  with  its  fashion  and  its  lust,  when  the  earth  and 
the  works  that  are  therein  are  burned  up  and  dis- 
solved, Jesus  Christ  abides.  What  He  was  yesterday 
*  Josh.  i.  5.  t  Acts  xi.  28. 


xiii.  1-25]  SUNDRY  EXHORTATIONS.  319 

to  His  martyr  Stephen,  that  He  is  to  all  that  follow  Him 
in  earth's  to-day,  and  that  He  will  for  ever  be  when  He 
shall  have  appeared  unto  them  who  expect  Him  unto 
salvation.  The  antithesis,  it  will  be  seen,  is  not  between 
the  departed  saints  and  the  abiding  Christ,  but  between 
the  world,  which  the  Hebrew  Christians  loved  too 
well,  and  the  Christ  Whom  the  saints  of  their  Church 
had  loved  better  than  the  world  and  served  by  faith 
unto  death. 

If  Jesus  Christ  abides.  He  is  our  anchorage,  and  the 
exhortation  first  given  near  the  beginning  of  the  Epistle 
once  more  suggests  itself  to  the  Apostle.  "Permit 
not  yourselves  to  drift  and  be  carried  past  *  the 
moorings  by  divers  strange  doctrines."  The  word 
"  doctrines  "  is  itself  emphatic.  "  Be  not  borne  aside 
from  the  personal,  abiding  Jesus  Christ  by  propositions, 
whether  in  reference  to  practice  or  to  belief."  What 
these  '^  doctrines  "  were  in  this  particular  case  we  learn 
from  the  next  verse.  They  were  the  doubtful  disputa- 
tions about  meats.  The  epithets  "  divers  and  strange  " 
restrict  the  allusion  still  more  nearly.  He  speaks  not 
of  the  general  and  famihar  injunctions  of  Jewish 
teachers  respecting  meats,  the  subject  rather  contemptu- 
ously dismissed  by  St.  Paul  in  the  Epistle  to  the 
Romans :  "  One  man  hath  faith  to  eat  all  things ;  but 
he  that  is  weak  eateth  herbs."  f     Our  author  could  not 

*  /*^  Trapacp^pecrde  (xiii.  9),  f  Rom.  iv.  13. 


320  THE  EPISTLE    TO    THE  HEBREWS, 

have  regarded  these  doctrines  as  "  strange/'  and  he 
could  scarcely  have  spoken  of  ^'  strengthening  the  heart 
with  meats  "  if  he  had  meant  abstinence  from  meats. 
A  recent  English  expositor  *  has  pointed  out  the 
direction  in  which  we  must  seek  the  interpretation  of 
this  difficult  passage.  The  Apostle  brushes  aside  the 
novel  teaching  of  the  Essenes,  who,  without  becoming 
Christians,  *'had  broken  away  from  the  sacrificial 
system "  of  the  Mosaic  law  and  "  substituted  for  it 
new  ordinances  of  their  own,  according  to  which  the 
daily  meal  became  a  sacrifice,  and  the  president  of  the 
community  took  the  place  of  the  Levitical  priest." 
Such  teaching  was  quite  as  inconsistent  with  Judaism 
as  with  Christianity.  But  the  writer  of  this  Epistle 
rejects  it  for  precisely  the  same  reason  for  which  he 
repudiates  Judaism.  Both  are  inconsistent  with  the 
perfect  separateness  of  Christ's  atonement. 

It  is  well,  as  St.  Paul  said,  for  every  man  to  be  fully 
assured  in  his  own  mind.f  A  doubting  conscience  en- 
feebles a  man's  spiritual  vigour  for  work.  The  Essenes 
found  a  remedy  for  morbidness  in  strictness  as  to  meats 
and  minute  directions  for  the  employment  of  time.  St. 
Paul  taught  that  an  unhealthy  casuistry  would  be  best 
counteracted  by  doing  all  things  unto  the  Lord.  "  He 
that   eateth   eateth  unto  the   Lord,  for  he  giveth  God 

*  Kendall  :  The  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  pp.  xxv.  and  139. 
f  Rom.  xiv.  15. 


xiii.  1-25.]  SUNDRY  EXHORTATIONS.  321 

thanks ;  and  he  that  eateth  not,  unto  the  Lord  he  eateth 
not,  and  giveth  God  thanks.  For  none  of  us  liveth  to 
himself,  and  none  dieth  to  himself.  For  whether  we 
live,  we  live  unto  the  Lord  ;  or  whether  we  die,  we 
die  unto  the  Lord."  *  The  author  of  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews  considers  that  it  betokens  a  littleness  of  soul 
to  strengthen  conscience  by  regulations  as  to  various 
kinds  of  food.  The  noble  thing  f  is  that  the  heart — 
that  is,  the  conscience — be  stablished  by  thankfulness,^ 
which  will  produce  a  strong,  placid,  courageous,  and 
healthy  moral  perception.  The  moral  code  of  the  New 
Testament  is  direct  and  simple.  It  is  entirely  free 
from  all  casuistical  crotchets  and  distinctions  without 
a  difference.  Those  who  busy  themselves  §  about  such 
matters  have  never  gained  anything  by  it. 

Do  the  Essenes  repudiate  the  altar  the  sacrifice  of 
which  may  not  be  eaten  ?  Do  they  teach  that  the  only 
sacrifice  for  sin  is  the  daily  meal  ?  This  is  a  fatal 
error.  *'  We  have,^  says  the  Apostle,  **  an  altar  of  which 
the  worshippers  are  not  permitted  to  eat."  ||  All  these 
expressions  are  metaphorical.  By  the  altar  we  must 
understand  the  atoning  sacrifice  of  Christ ;  by  "  those 

*  Rom.  xiv.  6 — 8. 
f  KoKov  (xiii.  9). 

J  Xa.pi.Ti.     The  author  has  chosen  a  more  classical  word  than  that 
which  St.  Paul  uses. 
§  TepnraTovvTes. 
II  Chap.  xiii.  10. 

21 


322  THE  EPISTLE    TO    THE  HEBREWS. 

who  serv^e  the  tabernacle  "  are  meant  behevers  in  that 
sacrifice,  prefigured,  however,  by  the  priests  and 
worshippers  under  the  old  covenant;  and  by  ^'eating  of 
the  altar  "  is  meant  participation  in  the  sacredness  that 
pertains  to  the  death  and  atonement  of  Christ.  The 
purpose  of  the  writer  is  to  teach  the  entire  separateness 
of  Christ's  atonement.  It  is  true  that  Christians  eat 
the  body  and  drink  the  blood  of  Christ.*  But  the 
words  of  our  Lord  and  of  St.  Paul  t  refer  to  the  passover, 
whereas  our  author  speaks  of  the  sin-offering.  In  the 
former  the  lamb  was  eaten  ;t  in  the  latter  the  carcases 
of  the  beasts  whose  blood  was  brought  by  the  wor- 
shipper through  his  representative, §  the  high-priest, 
into  the  holiest  place  on  the  day  of  atonement,  were 
carried  forth  without  the  camp  and  burned  in  the  fire.|| 
Both  sacrifices,  the  passover  and  the  sin-offering,  were 
typical.  The  former  typified  our  participation  in  Christ's 
death,  the  latter  the  separateness  of  Christ's  death. 

Many  expositors  see  a  reference  in  the  Apostle's 
words  to  the  Lord's  Table,  and  some  of  them  infer 
from  the  word  "  altar  "  that  the  Eucharist  is  a  continual 
offering  of  a  propitiatory  sacrifice  to  God.  It  is  not  too 
much  to  say  that  this  latter  doctrine  is  the  precise  error 
which  the  Apostle  is  here  combating. 

*  John  vi.  51—55.  X  Exod.  xii^ 

t  I  Cor.  X.  16.  §  Std. 

U  Lev.  xvi.  27. 


xiii.  1-25.]  SUNDRY  EXHORTATIONS.  323 

Two  Other  interpretations  of  these  verses  have  been 
suggested.  Both  are,  we  think,  untenable.  The  one 
is  that  we  Christians  have  an  altar  of  which  we  have  a 
right  to  eat,  but  of  which  the  Jewish  priests  and  all 
who  cling  to  Judaism  have  no  right  to  eat;  and,  to 
prove  that  they  have  not,  the  Apostle  mentions  the  fact 
that  they  were  not  permitted  to  eat  the  bodies  of  the 
beasts  slain  as  a  sin-offering  under  the  old  covenant. 
There  are  several  weighty  objections  to  this  view,  but 
the  following  one  will  be  sufficient.  The  reference  to 
the  sin-offering  in  the  eleventh  verse  is  made  in  order 
to  show  that  it  was  a  type  of  Christ's  atoning  death. 
As  the  bodies  of  the  slain  beasts  were  carried  outside 
the  camp  and  burned,  so  Christ  suffered  without  the 
gate.  But  there  is  no  real  resemblance  between  the 
two  things  unless  the  Apostle  intends  to  teach  that  the 
atonement  of  Christ  stands  apart  and  cannot  be  shared 
in  by  any  other  person,  which  implies  that  the  tenth 
verse  does  not  convey  the  notion  that  Christians  have 
a  right  to  eat  of  the  altar. 

The  other  interpretation  is  that  we.  Christians,  have 
an  altar  of  which  we  who  serve  the  ideal  tabernacle 
have  no  right  to  eat,  inasmuch  as  the  sacrifice  is  spiritual. 
"  Our  Christian  altar  supplies  no  flesh  for  carnal  food."  * 
But  if  the  reference  is  to  carnal  food,  the  expression 

♦  So  Kendall,  he.  cit. 


324  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS. 

*'  We  have  no  righi  to  eat "  is  not  the  appropriate  one. 
The  writer  would  surely  have  said,  "  of  which  we  cannot 
eat."  Besides,  this  view  misses  the  connection  between 
the  ninth  and  tenth  verses.  To  say  that  Christ's  death 
procured  spiritual  blessings  and  that  we  do  not  eat  His 
body  after  a  carnal  manner  does  not  affect  the  question 
concerning  meats,  unless  the  doctrine  concerning  meats 
includes  the  notion  that  they  are  themselves  an  atoning 
sacrifice.  Such  was  the  doctrine  of  the  Essenes.  The 
argument  of  the  Apostle  is  good  and  forcible  if  it 
means  that  Christ's  atonement  is  Christ's  alone.  We 
share  not  in  its  sacredness,  though  we  partake  of  its 
blessings.  It  resembles  the  sin-offering  on  the  day  of 
atonement,  as  well  as  the  paschal  lamb. 

But  it  was  not  enough  that  the  slain  beasts  should 
be  burned  without  the  camp.  Their  blood  also  must 
be  brought  into  the  holiest  place.  The  former  rite 
signified  that  the  slain  beast  bore  the  sin  of  the  people, 
the  latter  that  the  people  themselves  were  sanctified. 
Similarly  Jesus  suffered  without  the  gate  of  Jerusalem, 
in  reproach  and  ignominy,  as  the  Sin-bearer,  and  also 
entered  into  the  true  holiest  place,  in  order  to  sanctify 
His  people  through  His  own  blood. 

We  must  not  press  the  analogy.  The  author  sees  a 
quaint  but  touching  resemblance  between  the  burning 
of  the  slain  beasts  outside  the  camp  and  the  crucifying 
of  Jesus  on  Golgotha  outside  the  city.     The  point  of 


xiii.  1-25-]  SUNDRY  EXHORTATIONS.  325 

resemblance  is  in  the  ignominy  symbolized  in  the  one 
and  in  the  other.  Here  too  the  writer  finds  the 
practical  use  of  what  he  has  said.  Though  the  atone- 
ment of  the  Cross  is  Christ's,  and  cannot  be  shared 
in  by  others,  the  reproach  of  that  atoning  death  can. 
The  thought  leads  the  Apostle  away  from  the  divers 
strange  doctrines  of  the  Essenes,  and  brings  him  back 
to  the  main  idea  of  the  Epistle,  which  is  to  induce  his 
readers  to  hold  no  more  dalliance  with  Judaism,  but 
to  break  away  from  it  finally  and  for  ever.  "  Let 
us  come  out,"  he  says.  The  word  recalls  St.  Paul's 
exhortation  to  the  Christians  of  Corinth  ''  to  come  out 
from  among  them,  to  be  separate,  and  not  to  touch  the 
unclean  thing.  For  what  concord  can  there  be 
between  Christ  and  Belial,  between  a  believer  and  an 
unbeliever,  between  the  sanctuary  of  God  and  idols?  "* 
Our  author  tells  the  Hebrew  Christians  that  on  earth 
they  have  nothing  better  than  reproach  to  expect. 
Quit,  therefore,  the  camp  of  Judaism.  Live,  so  to 
speak,  in  the  desert.  (He  speaks  metaphorically 
throughout.)  You  have  no  abiding  city  on  earth. 
The  fatal  mistake  of  the  Jews  has  been  that  they  have 
turned  what  ought  to  be  simply  a  camp  into  an  abiding 
city.  They  have  lost  the  feeling  of  the  pilgrim ;  they 
seek   not   a  better  country  and   a  city  built  by    God. 

*  2  Cor.  vi.  15  sqq. 


326  THE  EPISTLE    TO   THE  HEBREWS, 

Shun  ye  this  worldliness.  Not  only  regard  not  your 
earthly  life  as  a  permanent  dwelling  in  a  city,  but 
leave  even  the  camp ;  be  not  only  sojourners,  but 
outcasts.  Share  in  the  reproach  of  Jesus,  and  look  for 
your  citizenship  in  heaven. 

Reverting  to  the  teaching  of  the  Essenes,  the  writer 
proceeds :  "  Through  Jesus  let  us  offer  a  sacrifice  of 
praise."  *  The  emphasis  must  rest  on  the  words 
"through  Jesus."  The  daily  meal  is  not  a  sacrifice, 
except  in  the  sense  of  being  a  thanksgiving ;  and  our 
thanksgiving  is  acceptable  to  God  when  it  is  offered 
through  Him  Whose  death  is  a  propitiation.  Even 
then  Hp-worship  only  is  not  accepted.  Share  the  meal 
with  the  poor.  God  is  pleased  with  the  sacrifices  of 
doing  good  to  all  and  contributing  f  to  the  necessities 
of  the  saints. 

The  Apostle  next  exhorts  them  to  obey  their 
leaders,  and  that  with  yielding  submission.  The 
atmosphere  1.  certainly  different  from  the  democratic 
spirit  of  the  Corinthian  Church.  Yet  it  is  not  impro- 
bable that  the  safety  of  the  Hebrew  Christians  every- 
where from  a  violent  reaction  towards  Judaism  was  due 
to  the  wisdom  and  profounder  insight  of  the  leaders. 
Our  author  evidently  considers  that  he  has  them  on  his 
side.  "  They,  whatever  we  may  think  of  the  common 
herd,   are   wide   awake.     They   understand  that  they 

•  Chap.  xiii.  15.  f  KQi.viavi(x%. 


xiii.  1-25.]  SUNDRY  EXHORTATIONS.  ^27 

will  have  to  give  an  account  of  their  stewardship 
over  you  to  Christ  at  His  coming.  Submit  to  them, 
that  they  may  watch  over  your  souls  with  joy,  and  not 
with  a  grief  that  finds  utterance  in  frequent  sighs.* 
When  they  give  their  account,  you  will  not  find  that 
your  fretful  rebelliousness  has  profited  you  aught. 
The  Essenian  society  gain  nothing  by  absorption  of 
the  individual  in  the  community,  and  you  will  gain 
nothing,  but  quite  the  reverse,  by  asserting  your  indi- 
vidual crotchets  to  the  destruction  of  the  Church."  f 

He  asks  his  readers  to  pray  for  him  and  Timothy, 
who  has  been  released  from  prison.  Their  prayers  are 
his  due.  For  he  believes  he  has  an  upright  conscience 
in  breaking  with  Judaism.  For  the  same  reason  he 
is  confident  that  their  prayers  on  his  behalf  will  be 
answered.  He  and  his  friends  wish  in  all  things  to 
live  noble  lives.  He  is  the  more  desirous  of  having 
their  prayers  because  of  his  eagerness  to  be  "restored"  + 
to  them.  He  means  much  more  than  to  return  to 
them.  He  wishes  to  be  ''  restored,"  or  "  refitted." 
Their  prayers  will  put  an  end  to  the  perturbation  of  his 
mind,  and  bring  back  the  happiness  of  their  first  love. 

He,  too,  prays  for  them.  His  prayer  is  that  God 
may  furnish  them  with  every  gift  of  grace  to  do  His 
will,  and  His  will  is  their  consecration,^  through  the 

*  aTevd^ovTes  (xiii.  1 7).  f  airoKaTao-Tadu)  (xiii.  1 8). 

t  d\v<TiTe\^s.     Comp.  ver.  9.  §  Chap.  x.  lo, 


328  THE  EFISTLE   TO    THE  HEBREWS. 

offering  of  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ  once.  God  will 
answer  his  prayer  and  provide  in  them  that  which  is 
pleasing  in  His  sight  through  Jesus  Christ.  For  He 
has  not  left  His  Church  without  a  Shepherd,  though 
it  is  in  the  wilderness.  He  has  brought  up  from 
the  dead,  and  restored  out  of  the  ignominious  death 
without  the  gate,  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  great 
Shepherd,  Who  is  ever  with  them,  whatever  may  become 
of  the  undershepherds.  That  He  has  been  raised 
from  the  dead  is  certain.  For,  when  He  was  crucified 
in  ignominy  without  the  gate,  His  blood  was  at  the 
same  time  offered  in  the  true  holiest  place.  That  blood 
has  ratified  the  new  and  final  covenant  between  God 
and  His  people.  It  was  through  His  own  blood  of 
this  eternal  covenant  that  He  was  raised  from  the  dead, 
and  it  is  in  virtue  of  the  same  blood  and  of  the  same 
covenant  that  He  is  now  the  Shepherd  of  His  Church. 

Here,  again,  we  must  not  draw  too  broad  a  distinction 
between  the  resurrection  of  Christ  and  His  ascension 
to  heaven.  On  the  one  hand,  we  must  not  say  that  by 
the  words  "  bringing  up  from  the  dead "  the  Apostle 
means  the  ascension  ;  on  the  other  hand,  the  words 
do  not  exclude  the  ascension.  The  resurrection  and 
the  ascension  coalesce  in  the  notion  of  Christ  being 
living.  The  only  distinction  present,  we  think,  to 
the  writer's  mind  was  that  between  the  shame  of 
Christ's  death  without   the  camp  and    the  offering  of 


xiii.  1-25.]  SUNDRY  EXHORTATIONS.  329 

His  blood  by  the  living  Christ  in  the  holiest  place. 
He  Who  died  on  the  Cross  through  that  death  liveth 
evermore.  He  lives  to  be  the  Shepherd  of  His  people. 
Therefore  to  Him  must  be  ascribed  the  glory  for  ever 
and  ever. 

The  Apostle  once  more  begs  his  readers  to  bear  with 
the  word  of  exhortation.  Let  them  remember  that  he 
has  written  briefly  in  order  to  spare  them.  He  might 
have  said  more,  but  he  has  refrained. 

He  hopes  to  bring  Timothy  with  him,  unless  his 
friend  tarries  long.  In  that  case  he  will  come  alone, 
so  great  is  his  anxiety  to  see  them. 

He  sends  his  greetings  to  all  the  saints,  but  mentions 
the  leaders.  Brethren  who  have  come  from  Italy  are 
with  him.  They  may  have  been  exiles  or  fugitives 
who  had  sought  safety  during  the  first  great  persecu- 
tion of  the  Church  in  the  days  of  Nero.  They  too  send 
greetings. 

He  closes  with  the  Apostolic  benediction.  For,  who- 
ever he  was,  he  was  truly  an  Apostolic  man. 


INDEX. 


The  numerals  refer  to  the  pages. 


Aaron,  consecration  of,  185 ; 
priesthood  of,  79,  128. 

Abel's  faith,  223. 

Abraham,  faith  of,  213;  God's 
oath  to,  loi ;  promise  made 
to,  9 ;  seed  of,  45. 

Adam,  220 ;  the  second,  36. 

Agnostics,  235. 

Acquittal  of  Christ,  168. 

Alaric,  272. 

Allegory  of  Melchizedek,  113. 

Altar,  323. 

Angels,  assembly  of,  301  ;  as 
emanations,  22 ;  man  infe- 
rior to,  34 ;  ministry  of,  27, 
316. 

Anticipation  of  nature,  241. 

Antinomianism,  148,  201. 

Antiochus  Epiphanes,  264. 

Apostasy,  95. 

Architect  of  all,  God  the,  54. 

Aristotle's  doctrine  of  habit,  85. 

Assemblies,  Church,  187. 

Assurance,  174. 

Athletes,  194. 

Atonement,  day  of,  296 ;  Christ's, 
38. 

Augustine  cited,  142. 
Authority  of  our  High-priest,  "JT. 


Baptism,  186;  infant,  240. 
Baptisms,  doctrine  of,  87. 
Barak's  faith,  26. 
Benediction,  apostolic,  329. 
Bengel,  100. 
Blessing  of  God,  89. 
Brotherhood,  Christ's,  39,  41. 
Bruce,      Dr.,     Humiliation     of 
Christ,  44. 

Cain,  how  far  he  had  faith, 

223. 

Calvin,  100,  250. 

Canaan,  rest  of,  61. 

Character  in  relation  to  under- 
standing of  truth,  90. 

Christ,  the  coming  of,  195 ;  a 
spotless  victim,  156;  death  of, 
37i  93;  return  of,  188;  as 
creator,  9;  the  effulgence  of 
God's  glory,  12;  as  theocratic 
king,  26,  179;  piety  of,  Tj  \ 
true  man,  167  ;  unchangeable, 
164;  unites  all  revelations  of 
God,  8  ;  as  first-begotten,  26  ; 
as  Leader,  38 ;  His  trust  in 
God,  40;  His  humiliation  a 
propitiatory  death,  37  ;  more 
worthy    than    Moses,  55 ;  in- 


332 


INDEX, 


capable  of  sin,  72 ;   the  great 

Earnestness,  100. 

Shepherd,  328. 

Ecstasy,  11,  53. 

Christology  of  the  Epistle,  178. 

Effulgence  of  God's  glory,  12. 

Christopher,  legend  of,  317. 

Eleazar's  faith,  264. 

Church,    consciousness    of  the, 

Elijah's  removal,  220 ;  his  faith, 

187;  customs,  187;  idea  of  the, 

263  ;  his  sudden  appearances, 

185. 

6  ;  defiled  by  touching  a  dead 

Cloud  of  witnesses,  259,  279. 

person,  155. 

Cocceius,  126. 

Elisha  defiled  by  touching  a  dead 

Coleridge,  S.  T.,  cited,  304. 

person,  155. 

Colossian  heresy,  22. 

Emanations,  doctrine  of,  21  sqq. 

Colossians,  Epistle  to  the,  22. 

Enoch's  faith,  219. 

Conflict  of  faith,  273,  277. 

Ephesians,  Epistle  to  the,  52. 

Conscience,     enlightened,     158, 

Equity   of  our   High-priest,    72, 

227,    248;  natural,    152,    155  ; 

74. 

enfeebled    by    Judaism,    156; 

Esau    a    representative    of    the 

as  a  revelation  of  God,  3 ;  not 

worldly  spirit,  287. 

satisfied  under  the  Law,  123. 

Essenes,  26,  320  sqq. 

Consecration,  priestly,  185, 

Eternal     duration     of     Christ's 

Conversion,  immediate,  242. 

priesthood,  116. 

Cross,  use  of  the  word,  281. 

Exhortations  of  the  Epistle  com- 

Creed, the  Nicene,  15. 

pared,  183. 

Cynicism,  96,  190. 

Exinanition  of  Christ,  44. 

Cyprian  cited,  95. 

Covenant,  new.  See  under  New. 

Failure,  impossibility  of,  99. 

Covenant,  old,  307. 

Faith,  as  an  initial  grace,  86 ;  as 

confidence,  200 ;  as  trust,  201  ; 

David's  faith,  263. 

and  works,  201  ;   as  an  inner 

Death  a  spiritual  conception,  43. 

life,  201  ;   and  morality,  202  ; 

Deborah's  faith,  261. 

as  a  realisation  of  the  unseen, 

Delitzsch  cited,  1 14. 

204  ;  as  proof,  204  ;  as  obedi- 

Demons, faith  of,  224. 

ence,    215  ;    groping    for    the 

De  Lyra,  258. 

light,  238  ;  as  endurance,  273 ; 

Discipline    of  conscience,    175 ; 

the  better,  267. 

of  character,  283. 

Family,  the,  241. 

Doctrines,  strange,  317. 

Father  of  our  spirit,  God  as,  284. 

Dominion     bestowed     on     man 

Fatherhood,    of    God,    32  ;    Old 

through  Christ,  36. 

Testament  conception  of  God's, 

Dreams    once    a    revelation    of 

145  ;    Christ's    conception    of 

God,  10. 

God's,  145. 

INDEX. 


333 


Federalist  theology,  126. 

Holiest  place,  the,  150  sq. 

Finality  of  Christ's  work,  167. 

Holy   Ghost,    partaking   of  the, 

First-begotten,  Christ  the,  26. 

91 ;  sin  against  the,  95. 

Flesh,  use  of  the  word,  152. 

Hope  of  faith,  276. 

Forensic  conception  of  the  atone- 

House, God's,  56. 

ment,  171,  224. 

Humiliation      of     Christ,      44 ; 

Forgiveness,   145  sq. ;  under  the 

dominion  rests  on,  37. 

Old  Testament,  146. 

Forty  years  since  Christ's  ascen- 

Ideas of  God,  20S. 

sion,  57. 

Ignatius,  St.,  76. 

Illumination,  gift  of,  93. 

Galatians,  Epistle  to  the,  175. 

lllusiveness  of  life,  221. 

Gideon's  faith,  261. 

Image,    use   of  the   word,    176; 

Glory,  of  sonship,  37  ;  of  leader- 

of God's  substance,  13. 

ship,  38  ;    in  power  to  conse- 

Imagination,    nature's     highest 

crate,  39  ;  in  destroying  Satan, 

gift,  4- 

42. 

Implicit  faith,  241. 

God,  not  a  mechanician,  209 ;  the 

Immutable  things,  103. 

Son  is,  27  ;  a  consuming  fire, 

Incarnation,  the,  45  sq. 

309- 

Incense,  altar  of,  151. 

Gnostics,  22. 

Individuahsm,  141. 

Greek  gods  human,  21. 

Inheritance,  the  eternal,  161. 

Initial  grace,  91. 

Habakkuk,  prophecy  of,  195. 

Intercession  of  Christ,  128,  134. 

Habit,  Aristotle's  doctrine  of,  85. 

Interpretation  of  nature,  241. 

Habits,  evil,  91. 

Introspection,  105. 

Hades,  Christ  in,  170. 

Isaac,  102  ;  resurrection  of,  228 ; 

Haggai,  prophecy  of,  306. 

blessing  of,  259. 

Heathenism,  64,  202. 

Isaiah,  cited,  40;  faith  of,  261. 

Heaven,  a  sanctuary,  70 ;  purifi- 

cation of,  163 ;  a  city,  218. 

Jacob's  blessing,  249,  259. 

Hebrew  conception  of  God,  21. 

James,  St.,  on  faith,  200. 

Heir,  Christ  the,  8. 

Jephthah's  faith,  261. 

Herod,  deification  of,  96. 

Jeremiah  predicts  a   new  cove- 

Heroes of  religion,  234. 

nant,  138. 

High-priest,  the  great,  69. 

Jerusalem,  the  church  of,  9,  85  ; 

High-priest,  the,  an  embodiment 

the  heavenly,  153. 

of  the  old  covenant,  69. 

Jesus,    as    God's    stev/ard,    55  ; 

Hofmann  on  Christ's  humiliation^ 

looking   unto,    279 ;    faith    of, 

44. 

280;  as  leader  and  perfecter 

334 


INDEX. 


of  faith,   280;   unchangeable, 

318. 
John,  St.,  First  Epistle  of,  135. 
Joseph,  faith  of,  260. 
Josephus  on  Essenes,  26. 
Joshua  son  of  Hanan,  188. 
Judah,  Jesus  sprang  from,  122. 
Judaism,  earlier  and  later,  234 ; 

Christ   not    the   flowering   of, 

249. 
Judgment,  the  coming  of  Christ 

a,  188  ;  doctrine  of  eternal,  87. 
Justice,  God's,  99. 

Kindness,  brotherly,  99. 
King,  Christ  the  theocratic,  26. 
Kingship  of  Christ,  179,  308. 
Knowledge  of  God,  144. 
Kurtz,  History  of  the  Old  Cove- 
na?ttf  253. 

Lapsed,  the,  95. 

Law,  given  through  angels,  23  ; 
given  by  the  Son,  31  ;  con- 
trasted with  salvation,  31  ; 
how  far  immutable,  63. 

Laying  on  of  hands,  87. 

Legalism,  148,  202. 

Maccab^an  princes,  115. 
Macknight,  248. 
Malebranche  cited,  205. 
Man,  how  inferior  to  the  angels, 

34- 
Martyrdom,  194. 
Mass,  sacrifice  of  the,  134. 
Mediator,  Christ  a,   137  ;  of  the 

new  covenant,  302. 
Melchizedek,    75,    79,    88,     106, 

113,  135,  156. 


Mercy-seat,  the,  154. 

Merivale,  Dean,  Romans  under 

the  E??ipire,  96,  196. 
Messiah,  David's  Lord,  114. 
Messianic,  the  eighth  Psalm,  35. 
Midian,      purpose      of      Moses' 

sojourn  in,  253. 
Minister  of  the  Sanctuary,  Christ 

the,  133,  169. 
Ministering  to  the   saints,    192, 

313- 
Miracles,  30  sq.,  306. 
Missionary  brethren,  315. 
Monotheist,  Melchizedek  a,  ri8. 
Moral  instincts,  205. 
Mosaic  dispensation  created  by 

Christ,  51. 
Moses,  32 ;  a  steward  of  Christ, 

54;    inferior    to    Christ,     55; 

faith  of,  233  ;  mission  of,  236 ; 

inner  life  of,  237  ;  comeliness 

of,  239 ;  Stephen's  account  of, 

245  ;  fear  of,  300. 
Mythology,  148. 

Nation,  a  spiritual,  236. 

Nationalism  of  the  old  covenant, 
140,  243. 

Natural  religion,  3, 

Nature,  the  vesture  of  the  Son, 
27 ;  interrogated,  8 ;  as  a 
revelation  of  God,  3 ;  dissolu- 
tion of,  307. 

Nestorian  doctrine,  169. 

New  covenant,  superiority  ol 
the,  142 ;  in  relation  to  the 
law,  143 ;  in  relation  to  know- 
ing God,  144. 

Newman,  Cardinal,  The  Arians, 
13. 


INDEX, 


335 


New  Testament,  produced  in 
one  age,  7  ;  only  accounted  for 
by  the  Incarnation,  7. 

Nicene  Creed,  15. 

Noah's  faith,  215. 

Nomadic  life,  218. 

Novatianists,  95. 

Oath,  of  God  to  Abraham, 
loi  ;  of  men  and  God  con- 
trasted, 104. 

Obedience  of  the  Son,  'j'j. 

Old  Testament  defective  in 
unity,  6. 

Oneness   of  the   Dispensations, 

51. 

Ontological  argument,  the,  209. 
Oosterzee,  Person  and  Work  of 
the  Redeemer,  317. 

Parable,  use  of  the  word, 
228. 

Passover,  320. 

Paul,  St.,  on  the  atonement,  224 ; 
manner  of,  29  ;  his  account  of 
faith,  201. 

Peace  of  conscience,  174. 

Permission  and  command,  227. 

Personality,  greatness  of  Christ's, 
120;  of  God,  208. 

Phantoms,  203,  241. 

Pharisaism,  235. 

Philo,  on  child  in  knowledge,  85  ; 
on  the  earnest  soul,  102  ;  on 
Abraham's  faith,  216;  on  Mel- 
chizedek,  115;  on  the  use  of 
allegory,  116  ;  on  the  Word  as 
an  effulgence,  15. 

Piety  of  Christ,  -]-]. 

Pity  of  our  High-priest,  73. 


Plato  on  reminiscence,  222. 

Pre-existence  of  Christ,  126^^,, 
248. 

Priesthood,  the  foundation  of 
Christ's  power,  43  ;  of  Christ 
on  earth,  169. 

Priest-King,  the  Son  as,  17. 

Probation  after  death,  167. 

Progress,  moral,  86. 

Promise,  implies  a  threatening, 
58  ;  and  oath  of  God,  104. 

Prophecy,  in  what  respects  de- 
fective, 5. 

Prophets,  as  preachers,  147 ;  re- 
ceived their  message  through 
the  Son,  54  ;  visions  of  the,  10. 

Purification,  of  the  tabernacle, 
163  ;  of  heaven,  163 

Qualifications  of  the  High 
priest,  74. 

Race,    illustration    of    the 

276. 
Rahab's  faith,  261. 
Ratification  of  the  new  covenant 

162. 
Realisation  of  Christ,  52. 
Reconciliation  of  God,  78  ;    the 

holiest  place  a  symbol  of,  152. 
Reign  of  Christ  on  earth,  136, 
Reminiscence,    Plato's     doctrine 

of,  222. 
Remorse,  190  sq. 
Rendall,  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews^ 

320,  323- 
Renewal,  impossibility  of,  83. 
Repentance  an  initial  grace. 
Representation  recognised  in  the 

Nev/  Testament,  241  = 


33« 


INDEX, 


Representative  man,  Christ  the, 

34. 

Resentment  belongs  to  God's 
fatherhood,  32. 

Rest,  offered  by  Christ,  58  ;  the 
ideal  of  the  Old  Testament, 
58 ;  from  labour  the  rudimen- 
tary Sabbath,  60  ;  in  Canaan, 
61  ;  described  by  the  Psalmist, 
61. 

Resurrection,  doctrine  of  the, 
87  ;  of  Christ,  72. 

Retribution,  191  ;  Old  Testament 
conception  of,  300. 

Revealer  of  God — Son  of  God, 
24. 

Revelation  of  God,  294  sq. 

Righteousness,  word  of,  88. 

Robertson,  History  of  the  Churchy 
262. 

Ruth,  261. 

Sabbath,  the,  60,  62,  166. 

Sabellius,  28. 

Sacrament,  255. 

Saintliness,  214. 

Salvation    contrasted   with   law, 

31- 

Samson's  faith,  262. 

Samuel  the  prophet,  on  obedi- 
ence, 177. 

Sanctification,  what,  41  ;  use  of 
the  word,   178. 

Sanctuary,  the  outer,  has  ceased 
to  exist,  150  sq.,  158. 

Satan,  atonement  not  given  to, 
43 ;  destruction  of,  42  j  as 
tempter,  72. 

Scott,  Thomas,  248. 

Sense,  a  spiritual,  85. 


Separateness  of  Jesus,  75. 
Septuagint,  35,  139,  306. 
Shadow,    the    law   had   only   a, 

173- 
Shedding  of  blood,  170. 
Shiloh,  promise  of  the,  249. 
Sibyl,  fable  of  the,  59. 
Sin,    the   besetting,   277 ;  Christ 

incapable  of,  72. 
Sinai,  Mount,  297. 
Sinners,  use  of  the  word,  275. 
Sin-offering,  322. 
Socinus,  Faustus,  169. 
Son  of  man,  sin  against  the,  95. 
Sons,  discipline  of,  284. 
Sonship  of  Christ,  defined,  28  ; 

a  revelation  of  God,  12. 
Soul  of  Christ  in  Hades,  170. 
Special  trials  of  Christ,  76. 
Spirit,  an  eternal,  156  ;  of  grace, 

what,  190. 
Spirit,  the  Holy,  152,  306. 
Spiritualism,  11. 
Staff,  Jacob's,  260. 
Stephen   reproaches    the    Jews, 

23. 
Subsisting,    the    Son's     distinct 

mode  of,  14. 
Supernatural  erected  on  nature, 

64. 
Surety  for  God,  125. 
Sustainer,  the  Word  as,  16. 
Sympathy  wanting  to  the  angels, 

74. 

Tabernacle,  description  of 
the,  150;  the  greater,  153; 
purification  of  the,  163, 

Table,  the  Lord's,  322, 

Tantalus,  221. 


INDEX, 


337 


Teaching  of  the  Twelve  Apostles^ 

84. 
Teachers  in  the  Church,  84. 
Temptation  of  Christ  real,  72. 
Testament,  161. 
Tertullian  cited,  264. 
Thankfulness,  309. 
Theology,  88  sq. 
Timothy,  329. 
Traducianism,  222. 
Trinity,  the,  13. 
Typical  character   of   the   Law, 

163. 

Uhlhorn,  Charity  in  the  An- 
cient Church,  316. 

Union  the  basis  of  consecration, 
41. 

Universalism  of  Christ  and  St. 
Paul,  141. 

Veil  of  Christ's  flesh,  170. 


Vineyard,  parable  of  the,  31. 

Wesleys,  epitaph  of  the,  233. 

Whitby,  248. 

Wilderness,    discipline    of   the, 

250. 
Will   of  God  our  sanctification, 

177. 

Wisdom,  Book  of,  42. 

Witnesses,  use  of  the  word,  269. 

Word  of  God,  living,  63,  305  ; 
immutable,  63. 

Wordsworth,  W.,  cited,  222. 

Works,  dead,  88. 

World,  end  of  the,  166. 

Worship,  the  result  of  a  revela- 
tion, 3. 

Zechariah,  Book  of,  115,  122; 

faith  of,  264. 
Zion,  Mount,  153,  297  sq. 


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